WUNC: ““In today’s day and age, our digital devices, especially smartphones, know more about us than things we’ve shared with even those we’re closest to,” said Chris Ford, who leads the Durham-based non-profit group Stop Soldier Suicide, which runs the project.
The group’s main work is suicide-specific telehealth therapy with clients who voluntarily seek help.
Suicide research is notoriously hard, and a key reason is that the people scientists most need to study are, of course, no longer alive. Now though, the devices that have become extensions of us offer a new window.
“The inner thoughts, feelings and behaviors, the things that I’m doing at two in the morning when I can’t sleep,” Ford said. “Those don’t get shared with our intimate partners, those don’t get shared with our parents or our friends in most circumstances. So, when we came up with this approach, we felt it was the last missing piece in the advancement of understanding suicide risk.”
They also thought it could be an unusually reliable source.”