Detecting Suicidal Ideation on Social Media Using Large Language Models with Zero-Shot Prompting

Golnaz Nikmehr, Aritz Bilbao-Jayo, Aron Henriksson, Aitor Almeida

2025

Abstract

Detecting suicidal ideation in social media posts using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning has become an essential approach for early intervention and providing support to at-risk individuals. The role of data is critical in this process, as the accuracy of NLP models largely depends on the quality and quantity of labeled data available for training. Traditional methods, such as keyword-based approaches and models reliant on manually annotated datasets, face limitations due to the complex and time-consuming nature of data labeling. This shortage of high-quality labeled data creates a significant bottleneck, limiting model fine-tuning. With the recent emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) in various NLP applications, we utilize their strengths to classify posts expressing suicidal ideation. Specifically, we apply zero-shot prompting with LLMs, enabling effective classification even in data-scarce environments without needing extensive fine-tuning, thus reducing the dependence on large annotated datasets. Our findings suggest that zero-shot LLMs can match or exceed the performance of traditional approaches like fine-tuned RoBERTa in identifying suicidal ideation. Although no single LLM outperforms consistently across all tasks, their adaptability and effectiveness underscore their potential to detect suicidal thoughts without requiring manually labeled data.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Nikmehr G., Bilbao-Jayo A., Henriksson A. and Almeida A. (2025). Detecting Suicidal Ideation on Social Media Using Large Language Models with Zero-Shot Prompting. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE; ISBN 978-989-758-743-6, SciTePress, pages 259-267. DOI: 10.5220/0013283400003938

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ict4awe25,
author={Golnaz Nikmehr and Aritz Bilbao-Jayo and Aron Henriksson and Aitor Almeida},
title={Detecting Suicidal Ideation on Social Media Using Large Language Models with Zero-Shot Prompting},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE},
year={2025},
pages={259-267},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013283400003938},
isbn={978-989-758-743-6},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE
TI - Detecting Suicidal Ideation on Social Media Using Large Language Models with Zero-Shot Prompting
SN - 978-989-758-743-6
AU - Nikmehr G.
AU - Bilbao-Jayo A.
AU - Henriksson A.
AU - Almeida A.
PY - 2025
SP - 259
EP - 267
DO - 10.5220/0013283400003938
PB - SciTePress