Posted by Bill L on October 30, 2001, at 12:03:49
In reply to How do you decide what to trust?, posted by Dr. Bob on October 30, 2001, at 1:56:11
I trust that most posters are honest in relating their experiences with various medications since they generally have nothing to gain by lying. I feel the most confident about something when I read a lot of posts that have the same observation. Therefore, I look for a website discussion group that has a lot of posts. For example, a lot of people claim to gain weight on Paxil. So I think that it must be a reasonably common side effect. Also, a lot of people report AD "poop out". So if my AD poops out in the future, I'll know that it's common and I won't get discouraged. I'll up the dose, augment, or try something else. I think however that the people who participate may be having a somewhat rougher time with treatment than the average person.
When I give advise, I usually try to encourage people to be open to the advise of their doctors and not to be scared off by internet horror stories.
> > I'm supposed to say something [in Washington next week] about: (1) how aware patients in online support groups are of the various online ethics and quality initiatives, (2) to what extent those initiatives influence their use of online resources, (3) what other methods they use to decide whom to trust, and (4) the ethics of facilitating such groups.
> >
> > Any comments on any of the above? (Remember, these are comments I might present.)
>
> Or, looking at it another way, I'd be curious:
>
> 1. From the perspective of someone looking for information, how do you decide what information to trust? What leads you to trust a web site? Another group member?
>
> 2. From the perspective of someone providing information, do you just pass it on, or do you try to present it in a certain way?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Bob
poster:Bill L
thread:82639
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82662.html