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Just like any other fields, mental health and blog psychology both thrive in scholarly debates on critical ideas in order to develop innovative ways to benefit both research and practice.
These conversations have never been much more feasible due to the explosion of the blogging culture. It was estimated that in January 2017 there were more than 1.8 billion websites.
Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, ranging from entertainment and social networking to providing news and, more importantly, as an avenue for critical discussions.
Blogs are essentially another form of websites. At its core, blogs are websites which are frequently updated and allow reader engagement. For instance, the Psych Learning Curve updates its readers with the latest buzz in educational psychology.
It is generally recognised that blogging started in 1994, with Links.net considered to be the first-ever blog. Blogging has come a long way – from being interactive, online forms of the traditional personal diary to becoming a repository of critical discussions. What makes blogging even more remarkable is that it is democratic: anyone can start their own.
Taking into account these features of blogging, it is arguably one of the effective medium to raise awareness about mental health. Blogs have the capability to demonstrate that people with mental health issues are cared about, understood and listened to.
This is the core reason why I developed Psychreg to become a platform for people afflicted with mental health issues to share their narratives. Through the use of blogs, the powerful lived experience narratives are reaching far more people.
With the increasing popularity of blogs, it is only sensible that they should be adapted in order to change the way people think and act about mental health.
It is comforting to know that across the world, people use blogs as an effective medium to share their narratives and experiences, to increase awareness and understanding, and to offer comfort and support. And not only that, blogs in similar genres are now being given recognition similar to those of mainstream blogs.
Blogging is not just simply writing a blogpost (and getting to grips with WordPress); there is a psychology behind it. An emerging subfield in psychology that focuses on the application of psychological principles and research in order to optimise the benefits that readers can derive from consuming blogs is known as blog psychology.
In an article, I explored the theoretical underpinnings of blog psychology such as readers’ perception, cognition, and humanistic components regarding the readers’ experience of consuming blogs. Although blog psychology is still in its infancy, there is definitely a huge potential to it towards contributing to the mental health landscape.
With the continued popularity of blogs, it is crucial that a specialised discipline be developed to encompass all forms of internet-mediated communication; specifically in blogs, such as the use, design, and its impact on mental health and well-being of its readers.
Critical discussions about mental health and well-being play a vital role in helping people feel better about themselves. Blogging provides researchers and practitioners with an excellent opportunity to create these conversations. It allows people to feel more connected to the world outside their home through the internet. This is the very reason the world needs dedicated mental health bloggers, who will talk about mental health and well-being issues. They can help us think progressively and critically, and in essence, help us build a world where everyone takes both psychology and mental health more seriously.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.
