Can you blog away the blues?

Evidently, you can.

According to a new study by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne who were looking into the psychological benefits of blogging, bloggers tend to feel a greater sense of connectedness to a particular community, and feel that they have a larger social support system behind them compared with those who do not blog. Using social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, the researchers found, also "lifted the mood of all participants (of the study) in some way."

Viewed in this light, blogging could be prescribed as a potentially cheaper (and drugs-free) way to help people overcome a feeling of isolation.

That bloggers derive an elevated sense of self-worth comes as little surprise to this blogger. Blogging has been dismissed as a  narcissistic pursuit, the equivalent of giving a megaphone to the most opinionated person in the room. But it can also be a tremendously beneficial pursuit -- for both the blogger and his or her readers. Most of the time, anyhow.

Comments

[michele]

i blog on an adult site:) and have done for three years.
Its a popular non sexual blog,just be day to day life.
Last year i was closing to breaking down,and it showed through my writing,the up and down extremes of my moods, instead of turning people away from my blog,they all came together and kept me together, although for the most part, my commenter's are complete strangers, they have helped me grow strong again,i know in some strange way,they are there for me and i am there for them.
My writing skills are not the best:) but as true bloggers and followers of internet etiquette,we stick together.
For those who are feeling blue,get blogging,even if you get no comments at first,look around at other blogs,leave comments and slowly folk will come to yours.
Blog on.

[Mom]

In additon to blogging, remember, the potato you eat today is the energy you will have tomorrow. ( Potatoes, Not Prozac, Revised New Edition) Eat one potato at least a day and take one aspirin. Aspirin helps to block prostaglandins which contribute to depression. Put fresh lemon juice every day on something. It has trace amounts of lithium in it. :)

[Mom]

I love to blog, as I live in a very small community, am retired, and the only world I see is through my computer sometimes, as the television is uniformly negative. It does keep us feeling we are connected, and we also practice our typing!!

[Jo]

Must follow that link up. Thanks.

I've used two blogs as positive psychology experiments. Following a comment made by Martin Seligman at his lecture in London last November, I started 20 things I've learnt since 2000. That's morphed into what I am actually interested in.

http://scotchcart.wordpress.com

The other positive psychology experiement is Flourishing with 2.0. As a newcomer to UK, I needed to make a large effort to meet people. Rather than join a whole lot of clubs I am not interested in, I've used 2.0 to find small groups within 100 or so miles of where I live who do things that interest me a lot. It has worked really well. I let it lapse from time to time and then get back to it.
http://flourishing20.wordpress.com
if you are interested.

[Adam]

I totally agree. Whenever I feel down like the time I got rejected for an interview, writing a post on my blog definitely made me feel better.

[Fiddledeedee (It Coulda Been Worse)]

I am vindicated.

I have a mommy blog. What started out as a way to document how my kids are driving me insane, has grown into a rather large meeting place for moms like me who feel isolated, while raising our kids.

A place to laugh, cry, and commiserate. But, mostly laugh until we blow coffee out of our nose.

So much cheaper than therapy.

[Eats Wombats]

Forget Prozac, Potatoes etc. Harvard professor Dan Gilbert uses wombat guts. So do I.

[Eats Wombats]

Forget Prozac, Potatoes etc. Harvard professor Dan Gilbert uses wombat guts. So do I.

[jewaira]

Blogging is a great way to put down thoughts that are swimming around our head and making sense of matters.

Interactive blogging especially is quite satisfying where the blogger interacts with users.

[Sean]

Yep, Blogging is good for the soul in bad times for sure.

[Andy H]

I always referred to it as "screaming at nobody through the power of the internet". I was signed off from work just over two years ago with chronic anxiety and severe depression, the NHS waiting list for treatment where I live is just over 2 years, I needed something. Over the first twelve months that I was off my employer continued to hassle me and my father was diagnosed with and killed by brain cancer. Blogging gave me a way of screaming out all the pain and anguish that was caught up in me; nailing it out on the internet and out of my head. If anything discovering that people were reading my blogs actually made them harder to write, particularly as I have started to level out again but during the darkest times I found blogging an affective tool to unburden oneself of vicious and harmful thoughts. It may not suit everyone but it helped me to keep my head above water.

[Jo]

I've had a huge amount of traffic to my positive psychology experiments
http://flourishing20.wordpress.com
and
http://scotchart.wordpress.com

If anyone is interested in the nexus of positive psychology and 2.0, would you like to contact me through one of those blogs or my more theoretical blog
http://flowingmotion.wordpress.com

I would love to hear from you and see discuss our mutual interests.

[Kevin]

Im sure that blogging is healthier than Prozac because for one blogging doesnt cause PERMANENT sexual dysfunction ( that continues indefinately once you stop taking the drug)

Prozac and other antidepressants however do.For more info see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-6pmsVOe3g

[Kevin]

Im sure that blogging is healthier than Prozac because for one blogging doesnt cause PERMANENT sexual dysfunction ( that continues indefinately once you stop taking the drug)

Prozac and other antidepressants however do.For more information google "Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction"

[kay killen]

Well in MS we don't have any news and it makes us feel better to scream with keyboard.

[Dave Dragon]

I too am a blogger. I also live with PTSD and Bipolarisim.
My blogging allows me a cathartic outlet for my stress and anxiety to which medication alone can't compare.

I've blogged in great detail my ongoing battles with PTSD and Bipolarisim and found a high degree of relief and social connection through it.

-Dave Dragon
Ride it like you stole it!
http://davedragon.rilysi.com

[Howard C.]

As one who takes Prozac AND blogs from time to time, I have to say I am a bit amused by the anti-Prozac stridency in some of these posts. I can with absolute conviction say that Prozac saved my life in 2002, when living in New York City, and going through the umpteenth battle with severe depression. I am a novelist and used to write for The New York Times, as well as a software designer... but at that time I was on a precipice. I absolutely rejected every and all suggestions that I try "medication" -- the very idea of it made me sick. But I had no choice since nothing else had worked over the course of 15 years. I was married with a 5 year old daughter, and was terrified that my depression would ruin my marriage, and destroy my life. Against every fear in my mind and body, I made myself stick with it through the 6 weeks of temporary side effects... jitters, insomnia, racing thoughts, dry mouth. I had to at least make it to the 8 week finish line that was determined to be the average time it took for the drug to begin working. At five and a half weeks on a normal, inconsequential day on my way into work, driving across the Brooklyn Bridge to work in Manhattan, a traffic jam stopped all the cars on the bridge. To my left was the vast emptiness where the World Trade Center had been but a few months ago. I had lost a colleague on 9/11 – a quiet, extremely kind and fiercely intelligent young man who was an expert in design of very complex software systems. On September 10th 2001, at about 6PM, at the end of the workday, he had been yelled at for always being late to meetings. He was one of those people who had genuine brilliance, and for whom being late was just a matter of course; and for most of us, it was no big deal. He was a shy American man of Chinese decent, about 28 years old, who had been born and grown up in America, but whose parents had immigrated from China, then worked hard to send their son to college and give him a shot at a better life. I believe – though I may have remembered incorrectly – that he went to MIT. But I don't want to muddy his memory by incorrect statements. Suffice it to say that 2 months before 9/11 he was married to a great young woman, with whom he truly was in love. After having been yelled at for being late to every meeting for the client – Cantor Fitzgerald and their new online business called "eSpeed", which my company was building – he showed up early for the next day's meeting... in the World Trade Center at 9 AM on 9/11 2001. He was there, on the forty-something floor, at 8:30 AM, ready to go. The first plane hit the north tower – in which he was dutifully waiting for my other colleagues... all of whom were late for the meeting (including the woman who had yelled at him). The last that was heard from him was a phone call he made from his cell to his new wife. "Something is going on here. I'm not sure what but there's smoke everywhere. I'm going to get out though. Don't worry, I'll call you when I'm downstairs."

That was the last that was every jeard from him. So... I looked at the absence of both towers on the left and remembered all of that in a few seconds, then looked to the right and saw the beautiful blue sky over the Brooklyn Bridge... and I suddenly, like a bolt of lightning to my brain, realized that I was no longer depressed. It was that quick (after six weeks), and it was that simple.

It is important to note that I have been on Prozac ever since. It is also important to note that Prozac does not make depressed people happy. I have cried and been sad about many many things since that day. It also is largely a myth that it always has negative sexual side effects. I can say that for me it had the exact opposite effect -- and I won't go into details... but I can say that nmy wife was somewhat shocked and a little bit scared by my sudden explosion of interest in sex.

So.... does Prozac stop sadness? No. Does Prozac make everyone feel happy? No. Did Prozac save my life? Yes.

Do I love to write in my blog? Yes. Is it tremendously therapeutic? Yes. But could it have saved my life like Prozac? No way.

[Perry]

I retired 10 years ago and have been blogging away my blues since October 2004. My potpourri blog keeps my mind active. I post about 30 times a week and I get about 700 hits per day. I do not use a news aggregator - that would be too easy. The Google ads pay for my bandwidth and nearly half my broadband costs.
Perry
http://caveviews.blogs.com

[Finbar Taggit]

I used to bore my mates in the pub with my opinions. With blogging, I get to bore thousands all around the world on a daily basis. I couldn't be happier.

[Jenny Hyatt]

Blogging is a superb means of self expression which psychological research (notably Prof James Pennebaker) has demonstrated improves social, physical and mental wellbeing. On bigwhitewall.com many users report a sense of release and connectedness through their posts and for some it has literally been a life saver. There is much criticism levelled at social networking as a distraction in the workplace and an activity that takes people away from their offline lives. Our experience is that it enriches people's lives in 'the real world' as it provides them with the confidence and support to address those issues that are affecting their work and social lives.

[Brian Timm]

I'm currently using a blog to explore/share my day as well. i jsut started, and mostly just my friends comment, but even if i don't get any other readers, it's nice to get my feelings out.

http://brian-timm.blogspot.com

if you ever want to drop by and look through my rants on my day-to-day life, feel free. and comments are always appreciated. sorry for basically marketing my blog.

i most definitely think that it's a good, therapeutic outlet for me. college life is crazy and it's nice to have something to go to everyday to get my emotions out.