Comments on: Just in case...

Just in case...

sondrialiac — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:13:14 -0800

Suppose you have a problem with your thinking, your mood, or your relationships. Come in, sit down, and let the internet help. Meet MoodGym and its newer sister site, e-couch.

Of course, you could probably use a real shrink, too. Find one online-personal style, complete with pictures and information about specialties, qualifications, cost, and treatment preferences. You might be prescribed psychoactive medications, aka crazymeds. Did you know that "Lexapro gets rave reviews from the Panic/Anxiety community"? Well, you do now. And to keep it all straight and monitor your progress, PatientsLikeMe will keep track of just about everything about you, Big Brother-style. Don't remember how you felt two days ago? It certainly does. Good luck--and don't lose hope.

By: anthill

anthill — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:14:25 -0800

Or, you could just post on Metafilter and let the community ~~judge~~ diagnose you.

By: speug

speug — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:18:34 -0800

The data collection in MoodGym is a bit odd - very repetitive - and the scoring system doesn't make too much sense. I got one "wrong" answer in the quizzes and wound up in the middle zone for depression etc. But then, of course, it's probably all my fault - I probably didn't do the quizzes right, I'm pretty much a total failure at everything I do... (Slouches off to eat pizza and ice cream.) To be less flippant - the data collection and data analysis do seem a bit dicey to me - any psych literates care to evaluate them?

By: Busithoth

Busithoth — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:32:18 -0800

I prefer the nice and friendly hard kick in the ass (delivered with appropriately scathing comments) to break me out of my funk. It doesn't always work, but... I'll have to check out the whole test at home, away from work.

By: Mikimi

Mikimi — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:48:12 -0800

Yah seems maybe just posting something will give you better results but that's my opinion, but I'm pretty messed up anyways for a silly computer diagnose ~

By: sondrialiac

sondrialiac — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:23:12 -0800

The point isn't really to diagnose you, it's to do exercises that will help you be happier by teaching them about the way that thoughts lead to emotions, and what you can do to help yourself change your thoughts. I feel that I get a huge amount out of moodgym, even though it doesn't rate me as depressed or anxious. So it might be worth hanging in there and completing some of the modules, just to see how they work and whether they're helpful for you.

By: jacalata

jacalata — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:36:48 -0800

MoodGym was actually recommended to me by my doctor along with meds and therapy, so I figure there must be something behind it. And I should be more consistently using Patients - nice post.

By: sondrialiac

sondrialiac — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:53:32 -0800

Thanks, jacalata, The only way I stay on top of it is that patientslikeme emails me every day. Their interface is a bit busy so it was a little tough to find out how to get the emails, but they're awesome--you simply click a link and it records your mood. You don't even have to sign in.

By: semblance

semblance — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:54:24 -0800

I'll nth the recommendation for moodgym. It helped me a lot a few months ago when I was going through an especially shitty time. After that, I found toolstolife, which has been even more helpful. I think it's a fantastic site. It's no exaggeration to say that it helped me turn my life around, and the fact that it's totally free amazes me.