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Forums deal with several different diagnoses and behavioral or
relationship problems.
It appears that support and advice from people “who have been
there” are often as helpful as self-help books, professional advice, and
therapy. Certainly many people seek understanding, reassurance they
are not alone, encouragement, and just someone to hear their story.
Storm King (http://webpages.charter.net/stormking/) has discussed
in great detail the pros and cons of self-help groups.
(3) To find accurate information about psychiatric
(http://mentalhelp.net), Psych Web (http://www.psywww.com/),
engines will also find information about diagnoses for you.
A surprising number of former, current, and prospective patients
are on the Internet seeking to learn more about their diagnosis and
possible treatment. They often identify themselves by some label: “I’m
bipolar,” “I’m an adult child of alcoholism,” “I’m a child of divorce,”
and “I’m PTSD... DID... BPD... ADD... OCD... “
(4) To find information about treatment methods as applied
Help. As mentioned before, the major search engines can locate
information about how to treat a specific disorder and about specific
treatment methods, such as Cognitive-Behavioral or Psychodynamic
treatment.
To learn more about psychopharmacological medications,
uk.com/addictions_and_drugs/psychopharmacology1.htm).
For clients seeking “talking therapy,” it is to their advantage to be
familiar with the rationale of several different psychotherapy
techniques. I say that because I believe that the best therapy is a
cooperative effort with the patient well informed enough to participate
in planning the therapy. Moreover, the client should continuously apply
self-help techniques to supplement the therapy methods. Thus, good
psychotherapy patients are students of self-help.
