(first of a 2-part series posted for Mental Health Awareness Day, Oct. 2012)
The question in the title seems very apt to ask on this "World Mental Health Day."
Online communities for consumers and providers of mental health services have been around for quite awhile. But here in this "e-patient" decade, driven by greater access to information -- and greater access to each other -- it feels apt to bring mental health into the conversation about patient empowerment and patient engagement.
What might being an 'E-Patient' mean when it comes to mental well-being?
On the value of memes in health and medicine
Have you been struck as often as I have at the number of times some gee-whiz science headline confirms common sense?
It fascinates me how often we refuse to believe the fruits of our own experience until some study confirms it. I
will spare you a long list of links, but it's happened so often
I have a standing personal hashtag attached to that topic in my archives.
I
still remember a study years ago about the value of chicken soup for colds. It seemed so silly at the time. Heck,
if soup makes you feel better, drink it. What's wrong with a little
placebo effect among family and friends? I don't need statistics to feel OK about correlating that soup with a
less stuffy head.
That said, with today's perspective on mind and
brain I do have to grant that Aunt Ida may have been more right than
she knew when she cooked up that soup, and I'm not talking about
killing microbes with noodles.
All those years ago, it is unlikely Aunt Ida or those study
designers considered the curative value of the
well-turned meme.
