Psychotherapy 2.0: MySpace® Blogging as Self–therapy

Abstract

A survey conducted by America Online (AOL®) in 2005 reported the startling finding that almost 50% of those posting entries on internet logs (weblogs or blogs), use them as a form of self-therapy. This finding went relatively unnoticed by psychotherapists and other mental health professionals. Given the rather significant global population ofbloggers (those who post internet journal entries) and readers, and the seemingly intractable problem of mental illness worldwide (according to the World Health Organisation, the global burden of mental illness accounts for more than the burden of all cancers put together), the possibility of blogging as self-therapy deserves greater attention. Research investigating the health possibilities of blogs holds particular promise, at least for those disposed to writing and those working with patients who write. This paper addresses the question of howSuch a scenario is not to be taken lightly by the mental health professions, especially at a time when, globally, the burden of mental illness accounts for more than the burden of all cancers put together. 2Even if a far more modest number of bloggers were able to gain psychotherapeutic benefits from blogging, this would constitute a serious assault on the up-to-now widespread and seemingly intractable problem of mental illness worldwide. If, as Gillie Bolton (2004) suggests, "writing is our cultural medium" (p. 1) and as argue, has, "its own particularly powerful benefits" (p. 228), research investigating the health possibilities of blogs holds particular promise, at least for those disposed to writing and those working with patients who write.Given the prevalence of blogs today, the term itself is likely to be familiar to many readers. What exactly is a blog or web log (to use its full name)? A weblog, for our purposes, can be defined as an online journal or diary organised typically in reverse chronological order, consisting of user generated content in the primary form of writing. Whilst numerous blog sites on the internet exist, we focus specifically on a blogger (journal writer) within the social network of MySpace® (http://www.myspace. com). As the paper progresses, the significance of the social network/ community context of blogging as self-therapy will become clear.Blogs have rapidly become ubiquitous in our contemporary social media landscape. Although blogs are most commonly associated with news, politics, opinion pieces, journalism and special interests, this paper is concerned only with individuals within social networks blogging in creative, expressive and potentially therapeutic ways. In one of the first books on blogs The Uses of Blogs by Bruns & Jacobs (2006), strangely, neither health nor therapy are even mentioned as potential uses of blogs.1 The author acknowledges the significant and alarming digital divide-the distribution of those who do and do not have access to the internet across the world. This however is an issue deserving of its own paper and does not fall within the scope of our interest here. Bloggin...

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