Though I love the idea of online support groups, I never confide in them, ever. I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to engage that way. I do, however, read them and read the dialogue that goes on — and I found that extremely helpful.
According to John Grohol, I’m not alone. Check out this post from PsychCentral for more:
Do Lurkers Benefit from Online Support Groups?
liz | 1:35 PM | Uncategorized
Liz Spikol was born in Philadelphia sometime in the 20th century. She started writing about her experience as a person with mental illness in 1999, while employed at Philadelphia Weekly as the paper’s managing editor. Aside from serving as that paper’s web editor, music editor, staff writer, senior editor, executive editor and a host of other random roles that she couldn’t make up her mind about, she has also worked as a Spanish teacher, as a Certified Peer Specialist during Philly’s system-wide transformation and as a communications specialist for a prison reform organization. Currently, she works at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and writes book reviews for PW. This blog — named one of the Top 10 Bipolar Blogs of 2007 and 2008 by PsychCentral — is about medications, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, SAD (and many other acronyms), mad pride, Big Pharma, celebrities, hospitals, stigma and the recovery movement. And other stuff.
So, if I understand this correctly, non-social types gain the same benefits from support groups as the social types, minus the benefits to be had by actual socialization?
Am I the only one who sees this as a no-brainer? It’s like doing a study to determine that people who don’t socialize at parties still get to hear all the music and eat tortilla chips, and can have just as good a time as the social types if they’re left alone. I just don’t see the purpose of this study.
Gee Liz, that kind of surprises me that you wouldn’t confide. You seem very open about your illness and that is what keeps me coming back to this site. I have to say I’m pretty much a lurker at the other web sites I visit but those are more news/political sites like Huffington and Crooks and Liars. I always seem to have something to say but dont see much point when I’m going to be giving the 8,945th response. ANyway, after years of having a fear of revealing too much of anything about myself, I find it cathartic to just say, “what the hell, here’s my story”. Ordinarily, I might hope for a response from you but I think it’s possible you’re lurking around your own web site. Anyway, being in the company of people who might understand you even a little is a good thing even if you remain lurking in the shadows. Dave
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