More people than ever are turning to online support groups, from bipolar disorder patients to people going through religious conversions.
Online groups draw members who wouldn't attend most traditional face-to-face meetings—because of time constraints, location, cost, or privacy concerns. Users can post any time of day from home using a pseudonym and don't rely on geographical closeness to other members, which makes online forums especially useful for people with rare conditions.
But the drawbacks are similar to those of most online relationships, according to Storm King, a crisis clinician at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts. Text-based communication can be short and impersonal. Intimacy is hard and misunderstandings common. Sometimes, in the absence of a moderator, disagreements can lead to all-out flame wars.
King's advice: Don't be intimidated by cold or angry messages flooding your inbox. Even though people might behave online in ways they'd never dare to in person, many still have strong ethics.
