Focus: The other messageboard I am routinely part of is a Hodgkins Lymphoma support forum. When my sister first got sick (and the second time) I really wasnt sure where to turn for answers. I knew nothing about the benefits of different treatment methods, how to deal with the emotional rollercoaster, and just how to approach the situation altogether. Reaching out to others on there has been extremely informative and comforting to talk to other people going through the same thing or who have family members that are. Now that my my sister is just about done treatment for good (hopefully), I try and reach out to others who were in the same situation I was when it started. That board is probably one of the most genuinely supportive Ive found on the web. Alt. Focus: Its been very positive for me. The information Ive received from others has greatly helped prepare me and my family on what to expect with each step. I dont take the medical advice I find on there and give it back to my sister or anything, Ill leave that to her doctors. But the rest of the stuff has been, for the lack of a better word, soothing.
Focus:My experience is religious based, so I apologise in advance. I was raised in a rabidly Jehovah's Witness environment. I wasn't allowed to watch television, or many movies. I was taken in and out of public school depending on if I was "being exposed" to too much "satanic" information. On top of this, my mother was extremely imbalanced and abusive. While I knew enough to leave once I was seventeen, I had no direction and no way to cope with all of the mindfuck that I'd personally experienced. I ended up finding an ex-JW forum that proved invaluable to my getting past all of the brainwashing, and support for all of the questions and emotions that I had. Like IWSJ, I found many tender people who had been through the same if not worse, they took the time to discuss with everyone in my shoes whatever emotional or philosophical questions we had. Alt Focus: The board ended up collapsing, due to the lack of moderation and flame wars that consumed it over time. I am still friends with a few that were there when I needed their understanding. One of them even posts here. I received so much support and validation from that board, ways to cope with being disowned, and many philosophical ideas that helped me reach my own personal beliefs that I am comfortable with. I definitely believe that this sort of therapy is successful.
TiB got the behind-the-scenes special on my BSD symptoms getting progressively worse until they finally got treated, over a year long span. Now that I'm better it seems so fucking weird (probably because it is). It allowed me to break from a smart/mature/witty social mask and anonymously express my inner crazy. Kinda like a less homicidal Patrick Bateman. It was surreal getting regularly complimented for being adult while getting progressively more sick. The interwebz kinda helped me keep perspective on how bad things were getting. Some TiBers have gone far out of their way to give much needed advice/direction when things were really bad. It really sucked confronting the harsh realities of where I was at but the internet softened the blow. ...Tough subject to articulate. Anyways, I spent six weeks in CBT this summer. It is pretty rad.
Focus When the really bad thing happened to me In the early part of last decade, there wasn't many group forums on the net, especially ones that help you cope with guilt-festooned post-traumatic stress. It was mostly chatrooms back then, where people will tell you to fuck off and die from rabies simply because they can. Instead, I fought off the crippling stress and chronic physical pain via pure excess. Not a method I recommend to any of you good good people. In the end, I flushed all chemicals out cold turkey (naturals I will NEVER quit), which was about as easy as driving a postal truck through a garden hose. Alt focus If this works for people and shows evident results, then a good idea is a good idea. I always have, and always will support things that help people get through life's shit storms without the use of brainwashing tactics..
Not so much treatment, per se, but I've posted this before and it's been invaluable to me: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ratemds.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.ratemds.com</a> I had an ongoing medical problem starting a year ago that kept resurfacing every month. No one believed me, and every ER doctor referred me to some mouth breathing specialist. I went on that site, realized how poor the doctors I'd seen were, and started researching. I found the one specialist with rave reviews in my city and then went to my GP and demanded a referral. Four months later I was in surgery, with my chosen specialist and another hand-picked specialist doing the cutting. Had I not found this site, I don't know where I'd be. Now, I'm using it to help my dad. He, too, is getting referred to the bottom of the barrel. Knowing exactly who you want to see really cuts down on the bullshit that is our healthcare system.
Whether its online, in books or printed on handouts from a therapist, bibliotherapy will always have a place, and rightly so. Depending on the treatment model and disorder, a colossal amount of help is provided through education and advice. This can be done in virtually any medium. That said, online therapy and self-help books tend to do best for single, circumscribed issues: panic attacks, social anxiety, single episode depression, etc. (in contrast to those general "Live a Better Life" books that are almost exclusively awful). But life doesn't exist in a vacuum and the majority of people who come through the therapy door have more going on than simply the Presenting Problem. This doesn't mean that therapy requires a rehashing of a person's entire history, but online therapy provides no context, which can ultimately limit its effectiveness. And there are countless people who have seen a therapist who point to certain aspects of the treatment that are difficult, if not impossible, to measure: empathy, support, confronting resistance, etc. Some people benefit simply from having a professional in the room as some sort of placebo effect. These are important curative factors and aren't adequately addressed in the study simply by adding therapists' emails. Programs like these need to be developed further, especially if they are really cost effective, because mental health care is often a luxury for most people. I'm going out drinking now. Godspeed.
When I started looking around online, it was for persepective more than anything else. My LTR was going through an extremely rocky phase, and I was desperate to know if there was a better way I could handle things. I was trying to figure out if I was the one out of line, or if it was her, and either way - what I could do to help facilitate working things out. Perspective I recieved, and we broke up shortly after - I had been giving her far too much benefit of the doubt; bitches be crazy. Bullet, dodged.