“My ADHD Hellbrain”: A Twitter Data Science Perspective on a Behavioural Disorder
Mike Thelwall
Orcid profile, , and 
Article Category: Research Paper
Published Online: Dec 08, 2020
Page range: 13 - 34
Received: Aug 20, 2020
Accepted: Oct 23, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0007
Keywords
© 2021 Mike Thelwall et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Purpose
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioural condition. This article introduces a new data science method, word association thematic analysis, to investigate whether ADHD tweets can give insights into patient concerns and online communication needs.
Design/methodology/approach
Tweets matching “my ADHD” (n=58,893) and 99 other conditions (n=1,341,442) were gathered and two thematic analyses conducted. Analysis 1: A standard thematic analysis of ADHD-related tweets. Analysis 2: A word association thematic analysis of themes unique to ADHD.
Findings
The themes that emerged from the two analyses included people ascribing their brains agency to explain and justify their symptoms and using the concept of neurodivergence for a positive self-image.
Research limitations
This is a single case study and the results may differ for other topics.
Practical implications
Health professionals should be sensitive to patients’ needs to understand their behaviour, find ways to justify and explain it to others and to be positive about their condition.
Originality/value
Word association thematic analysis can give new insights into the (self-reported) patient perspective.