Good, Bag and the Ugly

As much as I wish I could say that the Internet is great for someone suffering from depression the reality is far from idyllic. When I first  started down the rabbit hole that is chronic depression I looked everywhere for resources.  It's in my nature as an IT guy. The thing is broader communities be it Facebook, Google+ or Reddit are a bit like the wild wild west.  Little in the way of moderation, nothing in the way of preventing trolls.  This is the great double edged sword of depression. It's vital you find your support resources, but sometimes in that quest to find help we start to go to sites that are a mixed bag of folks who are genuinely trying to battle mental health, folks who are feigning issues for attention and people who instead want to troll and berate anyone who claims to suffer from depression or a mental disorder.  That's the reality of the on-line world and the negative side of anonymous communities.

 

This isn't to say there aren't actual communities that are formed which do try and help. Between Pacifica and MyCounterPane which I've mentioned before there are other support forums out there. I don't advise using any of them as a replacement for seeing a therapist but sometimes the group dynamic they afford helps get through those peaks and valleys throughout the work week.

 

There's no one-all answer for resources and I use my two web resources slightly differently.  Both sites I use allow me to journal my present mood and track health trends. Both allow me to post information be it to a personal/private journal or to a sort of open chat room.  There's ups and downs with both but I find both of the sites I use have far better communities or folks really trying to get help versus the more generic social media sites. So while I encourage you to look for resources, be mindful of where you go and how much you let it get to you.

 

 

 

 

External Links
Smugmug (
vraxx.smugmug.com)     MyCounterpane (mycounterpane.com)        Pacifica (thinkpacifica.com)