Posted by Lou Pilder on November 9, 2008, at 20:42:57
In reply to Re: Research project, posted by lucie lu on November 9, 2008, at 13:31:34
> To me, the analogy of the blood samples falls short because the samples exert no effect on one another. The Psych board, in particular, has psychosocial elements that distinguish not only from the blood sample model but also from other boards as well. While not all Psych Babblers share some degree of trauma history and associated interpersonal trust and attachment issues, a significant number have. Many or most are in long-term therapy and have deeply meaningful, often confusing and emotionally intense, relationships with their mental health clinicians. Many find themselves unable to discuss these relationships or issues anywhere else, often not even in the therapy room; in fact, the introduction of new, sensitive material into therapy often follows prior discussion with other Babble members. While the anonymity of Babble facilitates self-disclosure, the emotional safety of the community drives it. A sense of safety is provided by mutual interactions between participants, who have shared very intimate material and provided support and feedback to one another. New members are warmly welcomed and frequently have lurked on the board for some time before actually posting. Thus new members are likely to already know the dynamics and tone of the board before beginning to participate, and they join because of some sense of commonality and shared purpose. This self-screening feature is bypassed by those who join the group from ulterior motives, such as participation in an experiment.
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> None of the concerns stated on this thread should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with group behavior. A therapeutic community works because it provides safety within a supportive community that encourages productive introspection and interpersonal connections based on a common theme. While an established group can assimilate a few new members at a time, an influx or steady stream of new members destabilizes the group and destroys the existing community altogether. Another group can coalesce from old and new members, but the original community is gone. The loss of the Psych sense of community would be profound for its participants; I am not sure it would be so with most other boards. While the Psych board is not formal group therapy, I believe it shares many of the same group properties and fits the description of a therapeutic community. I believe that a significant subset of Babblers, particularly but not exclusively those with trust issues, will be loath to self-disclose if the intentions of new members are suspect, as they will be in the context of an experimental study. I find it hard to see how the existing community could fail to be significantly impacted by the study conditions, which would indeed seem to defeat its purpose. Not to mention the "do no harm" injunction: although we are not patients and technically not "covered" by this principle, I belive it still should guide responsible actions toward others.lucie lu.
You wrote,[...an influx ..of new members destabilizes the group and destroys the existing community altogether...].
Could you cite an authority that states that? If you could, then I could research that authority and see what else is concluded by that authority and respond accordingly.
Lou
poster:Lou Pilder
thread:861412
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20081003/msgs/861914.html