Illness and Internet
Illness Connections on the Internet: An Exploration
People with stigmatized health conditions, like mental illness tend to avoid seeking treatment or discussing the problem, however, with the anonymity of the Internet, patients can gather information about their illnesses and communicate with others through discussion groups, chat rooms and online forums. This paper is an exploration of online support communities for people with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a relatively uncommon mental illness in which the relationship between infants or young children and their primary caregiver is disrupted (Hanson 2000). The disorder was included in DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1980 (American Psychiatric Association 1980). In order to explore how the RAD community experiences their illness, I Google searched for different online support forums. The information comes from the three forums, (1) RAD Forum on Psychforums.com, which is a message board that allows for open discussion, (2) RAD Kids Support Forums on MDJunction.com, which is a community for patients, family members and friends who are concerned about RAD, and (3) RAD forum on About.com, which is a place to discuss RAD and connect with others who are also struggling with the disorder. These RAD forums provide the safe virtual environments for people to share information and their personal stories about RAD. My findings suggest that people with RAD have concerns about diagnosis, different treatment options and coping strategies, as well as the need for support.
The three forums share similar characteristics in the usage of participants: low number of posts and replies and infrequent visits. Participants include people who were diagnosed with RAD, their parents, friends and partners. For children who were diagnosed with RAD, their parents usually are the ones who posted messages on the forums. As for adult patients with RAD, they usually
People with stigmatized health conditions, like mental illness tend to avoid seeking treatment or discussing the problem, however, with the anonymity of the Internet, patients can gather information about their illnesses and communicate with others through discussion groups, chat rooms and online forums. This paper is an exploration of online support communities for people with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a relatively uncommon mental illness in which the relationship between infants or young children and their primary caregiver is disrupted (Hanson 2000). The disorder was included in DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1980 (American Psychiatric Association 1980). In order to explore how the RAD community experiences their illness, I Google searched for different online support forums. The information comes from the three forums, (1) RAD Forum on Psychforums.com, which is a message board that allows for open discussion, (2) RAD Kids Support Forums on MDJunction.com, which is a community for patients, family members and friends who are concerned about RAD, and (3) RAD forum on About.com, which is a place to discuss RAD and connect with others who are also struggling with the disorder. These RAD forums provide the safe virtual environments for people to share information and their personal stories about RAD. My findings suggest that people with RAD have concerns about diagnosis, different treatment options and coping strategies, as well as the need for support.
The three forums share similar characteristics in the usage of participants: low number of posts and replies and infrequent visits. Participants include people who were diagnosed with RAD, their parents, friends and partners. For children who were diagnosed with RAD, their parents usually are the ones who posted messages on the forums. As for adult patients with RAD, they usually
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