BACKGROUND: The Internet is becoming increasingly important in psychiatry and psychotherapy. AIMS: The objective of this study was to evaluate if and how online self-help forums are used by patients with bipolar disorders, their relatives and treating professionals. METHODS: A total of 2400 postings in two online forums were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS: "Disclosure", "friendship" and "online-group cohesion" were the main self-help mechanisms. The topics most discussed were "social network", "symptoms of the illness" and "medication". Factor analyses revealed three factors concerning self-help mechanisms: "group cohesion", "emotional support" and "exchange of information", as well as three factors concerning fields of interest: "illness-related aspects", "social aspects" and "financial and legal issues". CONCLUSION: We infer that the main interest in participating in online forums for patients with bipolar disorders and their relatives is to share emotions and to discuss their daily struggles with the illness. Our study also reveals that social networking is very important for patients coping with bipolar disorders. Psycho-educative programmes should focus on those aspects.
BACKGROUND: The Internet is becoming increasingly important in psychiatry and psychotherapy. AIMS: The objective of this study was to evaluate if and how online self-help forums are used by patients with bipolar disorders, their relatives and treating professionals. METHODS: A total of 2400 postings in two online forums were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS: "Disclosure", "friendship" and "online-group cohesion" were the main self-help mechanisms. The topics most discussed were "social network", "symptoms of the illness" and "medication". Factor analyses revealed three factors concerning self-help mechanisms: "group cohesion", "emotional support" and "exchange of information", as well as three factors concerning fields of interest: "illness-related aspects", "social aspects" and "financial and legal issues". CONCLUSION: We infer that the main interest in participating in online forums for patients with bipolar disorders and their relatives is to share emotions and to discuss their daily struggles with the illness. Our study also reveals that social networking is very important for patients coping with bipolar disorders. Psycho-educative programmes should focus on those aspects.
Authors: Jörn Conell; Rita Bauer; Tasha Glenn; Martin Alda; Raffaella Ardau; Bernhard T Baune; Michael Berk; Yuly Bersudsky; Amy Bilderbeck; Alberto Bocchetta; Letizia Bossini; Angela Marianne Paredes Castro; Eric Yat Wo Cheung; Caterina Chillotti; Sabine Choppin; Maria Del Zompo; Rodrigo Dias; Seetal Dodd; Anne Duffy; Bruno Etain; Andrea Fagiolini; Julie Garnham; John Geddes; Jonas Gildebro; Ana Gonzalez-Pinto; Guy M Goodwin; Paul Grof; Hirohiko Harima; Stefanie Hassel; Chantal Henry; Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei; Vaisnvy Kapur; Girish Kunigiri; Beny Lafer; Chun Lam; Erik Roj Larsen; Ute Lewitzka; Rasmus Licht; Anne Hvenegaard Lund; Blazej Misiak; Patryk Piotrowski; Scott Monteith; Rodrigo Munoz; Takako Nakanotani; René E Nielsen; Claire O'Donovan; Yasushi Okamura; Yamima Osher; Andreas Reif; Philipp Ritter; Janusz K Rybakowski; Kemal Sagduyu; Brett Sawchuk; Elon Schwartz; Ângela Miranda Scippa; Claire Slaney; Ahmad Hatim Sulaiman; Kirsi Suominen; Aleksandra Suwalska; Peter Tam; Yoshitaka Tatebayashi; Leonardo Tondo; Eduard Vieta; Maj Vinberg; Biju Viswanath; Julia Volkert; Mark Zetin; Iñaki Zorrilla; Peter C Whybrow; Michael Bauer Journal: Int J Bipolar Disord Date: 2016-08-24
Authors: Emma Gliddon; Sue Lauder; Lesley Berk; Victoria Cosgrove; David Grimm; Seetal Dodd; Trisha Suppes; Michael Berk Journal: BMC Psychiatry Date: 2015-10-14 Impact factor: 3.630