Are blogs and podcasts improving our mental health?
Over coffee this morning, Andrea and I talked about the things people blog and podcast about and how there is a trend to be more publicly transparent about our experiences, thoughts and paths in life. We cited some examples and before I had a chance to talk about Derek Miller’s latest post about the decision to move from cancer fighting to cancer management (see To fight, or to live), Andrea wondered aloud if blogs and podcasts are having a therapeutic affect on people and putting psychotherapists out of work.
I need your help! I would like to produce an audio piece that explores this idea and I need your help to put it together. This is what I need:
- stories from people who have mentally and/or emotionally benefited from their blogging and/or podcasting activities
- stories from people who have mentally and/or emotionally benefited from reading blogs and/or listening to podcasts
- participation of mental health professionals that have observed the effects of blogging and podcasting on peoples’ mental and emotional health
- recommendations of blogs and podcasts that cover mental and emotional health in a way that is accessible and meaningful to the average person
Please share any information you may have in the comments to this post, or email me (markblevis@gmail.com). Also, please spread the word about this initiative. I’d like to put together a strong documentary piece on this subject and that will only be possible if I have enough supporting information.
Thanks for your help!
Photo: the empty couch by hypowren.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Mark this is a great idea. As a mental health professional I’ve used podcasts to improve my skills, but I have yet to see it used directly by the people I serve. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Mark,
I don’t know if this is the same thing, but we know that having a support group is a large part of therapy when it comes to achieving goals in life. Whether we’re talking anger management, weight loss, alcoholism, or what-have-you.
I’ve found in several cases that blogs and podcasts fill this need at least to some extent. My first podcast, Answers for Freelancers! pulls in roughly 700 other listeners, many of whom are just glad to know that other people face the same problems they do.
My blog, 9 Months to Tri, helped me personally while I was in training in 2007-08 to run my first triathlon last year. While I often was the only one actually running, swimming, lifting or biking much of the time, turning around and chronicling what was happening felt a lot like I was doing it with a group of people, and that helped to keep me motivated and moving forward.
Hope that helps!
October 24th, 2008 at 9:42 am
That brings up some new questions…
How much of the therapy comes from publishing and how much of it comes from feedback?
Does it matter at all the make-up of known audience members to anonymous audience members?
October 24th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I find that podcasting helps me work through my emotions. I get started on a topic, and I find myself being more honest with my emotions and more emphatic than I usually am face to face. Podcasting also helps me feel that I a doing some good in the world, so it is fulfilling as well.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Speaking from the point of view of my stuttering podcast, I can say that podcasting and listening to other people’s podcasts/blogs on the subject has definitely had a positive effect on my life.
This is the power of the niche community. Though listeners may be scattered all over the world, a podcast, blog, whatever, helps them feel like they are not alone in that niche. And that is totally beneficial to mental health.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Oh, I don’t get tons of feedback, so the therapy I get comes mostly from the actual act of recording and listening to my own episodes.
I also feel connected to many geek communities, and I guess that is therapeutic since I don’t feel alone in my geekiness. :P
October 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I forgot to mention the added bonus of podcaster meet ups (tweet ups, etc). In particular, the positive, supportive nature of the Canadian/US scene. Positive feedback is always a great confidence boost.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:05 am
In addition to my wonderings about the theraputic effects of just formulating thoughts, framing them for consumption and putting them out there, I wondered about possible theraputic effect of the consistent, support of readers via comments or even hits, dlds.
I believe that thoughtful, honest posts and thoughtful, honest comments of substance must be theraputic but
I frequently stumble into small circles of blogs that have clearly developed for mutual support, where bloggers share the events of their days, their routine accomplishments and are left token comments of support by the exact same set of readers for each post. And vice versa. Skimming thru photos and posts a couple of times a week and leaving these little “great work!” comments certainly seems like an efficient way to keep peers afloat (replacing long and demanding phonecalls of the old days) and keeping a fresh flow of warm fuzzies in all directions seems like fabulous, cheap therapy.
I am very curious, though, about the helpful/harmful effect of a) being able to so easily and convincingly present a less than honest image of more perfect selves b) the crutch of the daily, quick and effortless “great job!” comments.
Do bloggers who present the world with a better-than-life version of themselves actually feel better about themselves in the end? Do these “great job!” comments just boost a dependence on external validation? Or can this feel-good blogging veneer soak in and do good?
And, most importantly, where can I pick up my own gang of admiring daily “great job!” commenters?
October 24th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I believe that blogs and podcasts are merely tools - their helping or hindering mental health depends entirely on the intentions of the creator and the writer/listener.
For example, addressing Andrea’s latest questions, some people are helped by upbeat posts or “great job!” comments because they’re buoyed by anyone reacting positively at all or subscribe to a “fake it til you make it” philosophy that has been proven to work. Others (like me) can perceive them as hollow, prefer their honesty in these matters to be more multi-dimensional, and indeed have concerns about too much dependency on external validation - it can be helpful, but what matters is how you feel about yourself within yourself. Each point of view is equally valid, and hopefully people from each side can respect the intentions of people on the other side while not entirely understanding them.
As for my own experience (speaking as someone who has been treated for depression and anxiety), in terms of creating content, I suspect it can be theraputic much like other forms of creation therapy, whether it’s building an object or making something less concrete containing personal thoughts and feelings, like when a much younger friend of mine was going through depression and followed a suggestion to write poetry which became a successful part of her treatment. Feedback can certainly create an extra layer of group-therapy-like assistance for the creator, though with the considerations I mentioned earlier.
In terms of being a podcast listener, while there have been podcasts that have set me back a little (and this is only because of my own perceptions via my neuroses), I have found a tremendous benefit to my mental health - though in my case, it has not put my therapist out of work.
In the past, I’ve discussed in other quarters my history with podcasts about Buddhism, but I’ll repeat it here. While working on comprehending the concepts my therapist was presenting, I discovered seperately the Urban Dharma podcast of Kusala Bikshu, and found the principles he was explaining bore remarkable similarities with the principles my therapist was discussing, making them much more relatable to me. I would then in turn discuss those similarities with my therapist, who could add his Western perspective and make the experience that much richer. Months later, moving into more of a maintenance phase, I stumbled across a podcast of the weekly public dharma talks of Ajahn Brahm in Australia. Downloading little-by-little an archive that goes back about five years, I’ve found these talks to act somewhat like medication, helping to keep me on track and in balance when things are going well and especially when they’re not. He’s not really telling me what to do or saying everything is great or even expressing experiences exactly like mine, but rather reminding me about those principles that had helped me in my recovery and giving me different ways to look at them to keep my appreciation of them fresh. Again, this is a supplement to my therapy sessions - everything works in concert with each other to help me keep myself together.
While it may seem a little old school, I’d like to add the potential worth of forums as a virtual group therapy. In Second Life, I discovered Support For Healing Island (now, I think, including Centering Place), which has hosted a variety of useful group therapy sessions I’ve attended on occasion - but this was a spinoff of the Support For Healing forum, which has been in operation for more than a few years.
So obviously this is a rich subject for you to mine, Mark. Thank you for giving me and others the opportunity to discuss it.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
You’d have to ask my therapist if blogging and podcasting has had a positive effect on me :) That said, while I don’t have anecdotes for you, I do have a couple of theories that might be of interest.
- The mere fact of being able to vent, unload, share will, in my mind, automatically have a positive impact on mental health. There’s a reason why we all feel a little better when we get things off our chests. Whether we’re doing it in the ear of a good friend or in the earbuds of a thousand strangers, just knowing someone has listened takes a weight off. It used to be we needed to unload in the confessional .. then we moved to the therapist’s couch. Maybe now we’re simply able ‘confess’ more publicly. The trend started about 15 years ago with celebrity confessionals on tv shows like Oprah.
- The comments we received from readers and listeners creates a sense of community. Not only is someone listening, they’re coming back with feedback, words of support etc.
- Despite what non-bloggers and podcasters imagine, these activities are not isolating. On the contrary, they open up new worlds and allow us to reach out to people who understand us, whether they be around the block or halfway around the world. Maybe the only guy in the world who understands your purple-haired-kewpie-doll-dipped-in-molasses fetish is some bloke in Melbourne. Ten years ago, the two of you might never have met, but thanks to your niche podcast, you have.
- Beyond improving mental health, the move towards blogging and podcasting might even have a positive impact on physical health. Studies suggest that people who bottle up their emotions are more likely to develop cancer (Type C personalities). Similarly, that wallflowers are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke (Northwestern University, Chicago). That’s presuming you’re getting out from behind the computer once in a while to do some exercise, of course. From where I sit, the key to a healthy mind and body is a balanced lifestyle.
Looking forward to hearing more about this project, Mark - good luck with it!
October 26th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I can’t add too much that hasn’t been said in the comments above; all I can say is that depression can be a very isolating condition, and the “social” in social media has really helped me overcome the isolation.
My friends in this sphere have shown me that an essential part of communicating with others is being able to communicate with yourself, by being able to get in touch with and be open about one’s own feelings.
Finally, for me creativity is a critical safety valve, and I am constantly energized and inspired by what I see created by my friends in the social media community.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I’d be interested to hear Tod’s take on this, given his statement:
“…In fact, this hyper-connected economy may be both destroying the productivity of workplaces and eroding the mental health of companies’ most valuable asset — their people.”
at http://todmaffin.com/presentations/mentalhealth
October 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Blogging as Therapy:
“A 2005 survey by Digital Marketing Services for AOL.com a found nearly half of the 600 people polled derived therapeutic benefits from personal blogging.”
CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/07/blog.therapy/index.html
Scientific America: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
Newsweek: “My shrink says … blog!”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142630
Discovery Channel:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/03/blogging-social-health.html
The Psychology of Cyberspace…
http://psycyber.blogspot.com/2005/10/blogs-as-therapy.html
“…The research, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, found after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who didn’t blog.”
“…All respondents, whether or not they blogged, reported feeling less anxious, depressed and stressed after two months of online social networking.
“So going onto MySpace had lifted”
http://theanalyticsguru.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/blogging-is-good-for-your-psychological-health-cyberpsychology-and-behavior/
http://joanharvest.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/blogging-as-therapy-or-driving-into-a-tree-my-choice/
http://feeds.technorati.com/tag/blogging+as+therapy?from=http%3A%2F%2Fblogwritingcourse.com
November 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Personally I have benefited from blogging in many ways. I have 1 blog and 1 web page. In one I write about local politics. In the other I write about my job (I’m a teacher). Both pages have helped me establish good friendships and release the stress of saying thing the way I feel like saying. Since I live in Puerto Rico I write in Spanish but sometimes I contribute to Global Voices with some English articles summarizing the situation in my country politics. But the thing that I enjoy the most is participating in blog comment sections like this one it really helps sharing what you feel even if it is in writing. Thanks for the opportunity of letting me participate.