by Storm A. King
05/95
I couldn't get to sleep tonight. Something kept turning in my head. For the last year and a half, I have spent considerable time at this keyboard. Particapating in virtual support groups. Reading thousands of notes from discussion groups devoted to topics relating to psychology and virtual communities. And writing about how valuable it is to feel connected to so many others that share similar interests. Some things happened this week to conspire and caused me to realize the true nature and effect of what is missing in this medium. We don't really know each other, because we don't tend to share the kind of information that brings people close and fosters a sense of community. Even in the virtual groups where that is part of the stated purpose for participation.
What happened is that one person died, one person got very angry at me, and another shared about meeting a lover for the first time whom they had come to know over the Net. All on different email lists. As I tell these three stories, think about what you know and do not know about the people you have met here.
Mr. Gerald M. Phillips, among his many other accomplishments, was a regular contributor to a list I am on. This list is devoted to discussions of the interpersonal nature of cyberspace communication, and has over a thousand subscribers. When he died this week, what I knew about him was based on my reading the near daily notes that he posted to this group over the last year and a half. As the tributes to him came pouring in, my impression of this man was filled in. I learned about who he truly was for the first time. People wrote about how he had helped them, about how he had been a friend and a mentor. They spoke of his goals and ideas and accomplishments in a way that made me realize that I had in fact barley know this person at all. I knew his ideas, and a bare minimum of his situation. Since this list is not an emotional support group, it is quite appropriate that I had known no more than I did. But, having been given this new insight into the personal nature of someone whom had been an influence so many lives, including mine, it caused me to reconsider the insight I think I have with others whom I share cyberspaces that are designed to be support groups. And to contemplate what it is I use to feel close to someone here.
Telling this next story is a bit tricky. I want to talk about something that went on in a private, closed group, in a way that I can share with that group and others. The nearly 200 people on this list value the privacy of it and often post notes that are very self disclosing. An incident occurred last fall. One of the members of the group was in trouble, and this caused great stress and anxiety among the other members, who tried their best to help. As someone doing research into and writing about the value of such support groups, I saw this as an example that could be used to explain to others the nature and depth of the interpersonal bonds that form in such cyberspace groups. I wrote an article, and shared it with the group. There was a misunderstanding regarding permission to tell this story in the way I did. The member who had been at the focus of this incident became very upset with me. The group sharing was disrupted, and emotions ran very high. I concluded I had made a mistake, and agreed not to try to publish that article. This person and I are net.friends again, because we care about and respect each other. This all had several effects on me. One was to sharpen my awareness of the ethics involved in writing about what goes on in virtual communities. That is a whole separate subject I am looking into. The other effect was to make me realize that it is too easy to think that I know someone here because I have read a lot of notes they post.
It is all the small details that are missing. Cyberspace relationships are truncated versions of real life ones. The exchanges are short, and the awareness of others true nature is illusionary. Even in the closest of groups, the notes posted represent such a small fraction of the person writing that intimacy and interpersonal bonding occur only if someone unilaterally chooses it. Behind everyone of the notes I read daily from even my best net.friends, there is a life, filled with houses and cars and wives and kids and jobs, of which I am mostly completely unaware.
One more illustration. One of the lists I am on is an open list, but the subject matter is very personal. I have met in person a half dozen of the approximately 100 people on this list, and feel very close to all the rest that post regularly. Last night, a member told the story of what happened when he traveled across the country to meet, in person for the first time, a lady he had fallen in love with by email. In an 8k message to the group , he talked about his trip and his hopes and anxieties and fears. The little details were there. A traffic jam on the way, the color of the night, a light in her window. I could feel it all because it was concrete, not just the ideas and emotions, but the context and situation they occurred in too. I realized that what fosters insight, produces emotional attachment and promotes the sense of community in virtual environments is the completeness of the picture in my head of the other people here. Not just how they feel about the important issues we share in common, but what the world looks like from their eyes.
The media continues to hype the Internet for all its worth. Membership in commercial interactive services is at an all time high and rising ever faster. What are all these millions of people doing here? Asking inane questions? Lots. Having meaningless chat sessions where the underling attraction is to try to flirt? Yes. Sifting through an unimaginable piles of information, organized in a random fashion? Indeed. Arguing and yelling and calling each other names? This happens a lot in some forums. Falling madly in love? This happens way more than anyone I know has been able to account for so far. And forming lasting, important friendships, based on interpersonal bonds that are mostly illusions. Yet, somehow, for so many, the cold impersonal presence of the words and the ideas expressed on a computer screen are being translated into emotional connections and exciting adventures into long distant relationships. When real lives touch each others, things change. What makes it real is the connection to the real life behind the ideas. As expressed in the little details. The picture of others, complete in its context, form and colors. The knowledge that the other has grandkids, drives a certain kind of car, likes a particular type of breakfast cereal.
Well, it is after 5 AM, and the muse that wouldn't let me sleep is leaving. I plan to post this to groups where the purpose is not one of fostering intimacy or exchanging emotional support, but, as a bit of an experiment, allow me to share some details here and you decide if you agree with this assesment.
I live in an one bedroom apartment on the second floor. I just stepped
out on the balcony to stretch and get some fresh air. Even without my contacts
in, I can see that the sky has a few clouds, just turning pink. The birds
have started their pre-dawn chirping. It is still in the room, except for
the sound of the exhaust fan on my computer, sitting on my big wrap around
desk, and the tapping of these keys. My desk is it's normal mess. Organized
piles of half sorted papers, notes to myself, and yesterdays mail strewn
on top of that. I am alone, because my wife has been working out of town
for a few months now. I do not like kicking around this apartment by myself,
but the new shag carpet feels good under my bare feet when I end up pacing
and thinking like I did tonight. The second cup of strong coffee since
midnight got cold before it was half gone some time ago, but I drank it
anyway. I have no doubts that the struggle to write this and the lack of
sleep well seem well worth it later, for my fascination with and attempts
to explain interpersonal computer intimacy is a big creative outlet in
my life. I hope it help others. Now, to take a hot shower and sleep a bit.
I have to drive an hour to be at my mom's at noon for a get together.
The Psychology of Cyberspace
by Storm A. King
November, 1994
"there is no there there" -- Gloria Stienman.
Cyberspace
The space between our terminals? Or a place in our minds? Definitions for
(and debates about these definitions) of virtuality,
cybermind, or virtual anything abound and conflict and occasionally coalesce.
Through cyberspace. What was once strictly
the domain of computer nerds and hackers or scientist and researchers is
now increasingly occupied by middle class
America. The field of the study of computer mediated communications started
as research in to how people connected by
computes could become more productive and increase profitability by cooperation.
Now, it is shifting to look at the
sociological implications of a new phase in the information revolution.
A phase that has millions of ordinary citizens of the
world reaching out to touch someone, keyboard to keyboard. Interpersonal
interactivity, on a scale un-imagined only a few
short years ago. Information is no longer constrained by the traditional
mass media. This new "from many to many" paradigm
of information exchange has permanently supplemented our reliance on a
few centralized organizations to assemble, edit and
disseminate to us information about others actions and ideas.
"No man is an island" Aldous Huxley
"He is a peninsula" The Jefferson Airplane
Psychology
What we think and how we act and the relationships between the two. Our
thoughts influence our behavior, our behavior
influences our thoughts. Either way, the opportunity to know what other
individuals are thinking, and to share ones own
thoughts far and wide, has never been at a higher level. The implications
are astounding. Just how this new interconnectivity,
where geographic constraints are abolished, will influence individual and
social behavior is unclear, but we know it will. The
signs are everywhere. Each day brings new stories about the transformational
power of cyberspace participation. Minority
groups have become empowered, social movements have organized, and some
third world countries have leapfrogged over
decades to connect indigenous peoples through telecommunities. The ability
to influence other peoples actions, based on
their having read ideas broadcast world wide by individuals with access
and motive, is a new, dramatic addition to the
psychology of social change.
"God does not play at dice with the Universe" Albert Einstein
"He plays cards with it, and our connections to each other are about to
be shuffled" me
The social psychology of cyberspaces
I pay attention to you, you pay attention to me, and a social relationship
forms. Cybernauts have only each others ideas to
pay attention to, words on a screen, devoid of tone and inflection. Most
cyberspaces start by a surrounding of an idea by
people that want to discuss it. Yet our need for affiliation transcends
the intellectual nature of the medium, and emotional
connections are made. In fact, people fall in love, and fight, faster when
not inhibited by possible local repercussions. The
imagination fills in what the senses do not report. The meeting, the social
space, is of one mind to another. The medium is the
written word. Both are being transformed in the process. Much to the chagrin
of many in power today, the anarchy of the
Internet is establishing new precedents for the importance of taking individual
responsibility for harmonious social
relationships, rather than assuming order will be imposed by an external
authority.
"I think, therefore I am" Descartes
"I am he as you are me as we are all together" The Beatles
Multiple identities, multiple cyberspaces
Public typing, like public speaking, is not every one's cup of tea. Levels
of involvement in cyberspaces varies according to
the individuals inclination for immersion and interactivity. Many choose
a read only mode, content to examine the thoughts of
others and reflect on them in silence. Others contribute no matter what,
or self disclose all over the place. Regardless of this
choice, very few are single list, single space participants. It could be
real time chat, bullitine boards, email lists or all three, but
the role one plays is subtly different in each new forum. Expertise on
the stated subject can be a commodity exchanged for
recognition in one cyberspace. Questions posed to experts in another space
gain new knowledge, for the same individual.
Just as our behavior is different in real life when in church, at school,
or spending an evening in a jazz bar, so to does the level
of and content of discourse vary across cyberspaces. The difference is
the range possible and the juxtaposition in time of
roles played. From one minute to the next, one can redefine ones self according
to the community standards of that
cyberspace. One can be associating with the highest highbrow intellectual
discussion of theories of philosophy, and then, with
a few key strokes, change to being an active member of a truckers for peace
social movement.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
"Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic."
Arthur C. Clarke
The psychology of what is coming
In the near future, I will get up in the morning and my trusty intelligent
agent will inform me to dress warm, cause it will rain
today, and not to take I-5 to work because it is backed up. I will probably
tell it thank you. Future generations will not need
to know what kind of gopher searches or web worms were used to acquire
information, they can just ask Bob to go get it.
The boundaries between what is private and what is public knowledge are
becoming blurred. As more and more people
discover the power of being connected to their peers, no matter how esoteric
their interests, they increasingly start to look
for social contact and information first from cyberspace, and secondarily
from other means. Just getting by in today's world
means making many informed decisions. Tomorrow's world will be even worse.
Assistance from artificial intelligence is on it's
way. There will be a shift in the way people perceive their interaction
with each other, and with the machines that allow that
interaction. The information here flows horizontally, and power, status
and even self esteem can be derived from new and
different sources. How to win friends and influence people in cyberspace
is dependent on knowing the differences involved
between the new order and the old. Many more social interactions are possible,
for there is a reversal of a fundamental social
norm that occurs. Talking to strangers on the street can be problematic.
Talking to strangers in cyberspace is not only
encouraged, it is highly rewarding and very much reinforced. The downsides
must be understood as well. Social interactions
in cyberspaces are fraught with misunderstandings and are often much more
brief that those in real life. Future generations
will grow up used to such alternative environments where such different
rules apply, and will thrive on the mixing of cyber and
real life interactions.
The ideas in this essay were influence by ones I found floating around
cyberspace, most notably those of Howard Rheingold,
John Coate, and Jay Weston
The information revolution rolls on, don't let it roll over you :-)
Analysis of electronic support groups for recovering addicts
Storm King
Cite as:
King, S. A. (1994). Analysis of electronic support groups for recovering
addicts. Interpersonal Computing
and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century, 2 (3), 47-56.
Introduction
ESGs are a type of virtual community. Virtual communities are a new
phenomena. They are groups of people
that exchange ideas and information through the posting of messages on
electronic bulletin boards (BBSs), by
sending email to a common list of recipients and by exchanging private
email. This fast
growing phenomena is being used by many people to fulfill, in part, their
need for a community of peers (Rheingold
92). Addicts in recovery have formed ESGs on many local and international
networks. Very little is known about the
therapeutic value they receive from exchanging ideas this way.
According to Sparks (1992), it is known that
recovering addicts using ESGs receive "24 hour availability, selective
participation in entering and responding to messages, anonymity and privacy,
immediate and/or delayed responding,
and recording of transmissions." This is very different from traditional
support groups . At meetings of Alcoholics
Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) members typically share only
once, or not at all, during the hour
they are together as a group.
+ Page 48 +
There are advantages and disadvantages to the sharing of recovery tools
and experiences via ESGs. Among the
advantages are the thoughtfulness of the replies to issues that recovering
addicts face in common. Writing can be
different from spoken conversation in that thoughts can be formed more
slowly and
edited more carefully. The experiences and personal triumphs, as
they are expressed in written form, may seem
more powerful and clearer than similar messages shared in person at a meeting
of AA
or NA.
This descriptive study was designed to get a overall feel for how ESGs
function and to answer the following
questions. To what extent do addicts using ESGs feel it helps them to remain
drug free? Does long term
participation in ESGs result in a significant improvement in an addicts
program of recovery? What
is the nature of the benefit, if any, that participants feel they receive?
Methods
To determine the therapeutic value of ESGs for recovering addicts, a survey
questionnaire (see table 1) was
posted to the ESGs on Prodigy and sent to a list server subscribed to by
50 members of the recovery community.
In addition, a list of participants on Prodigy and the UseNet group alt.recovery
was
compiled by noting who had written to the ESG for a few days in early March,
1994, and emailing the questionnaire
to them. There was no way to determine how
many people read the posted survey, and did not reply to it. At this
time there is no way to determine how many "lurkers", (the cyberspace term
for
people that read but never respond in writing), there are in the various
ESGs that use a BB format. The response
rate for the emailed survey was 30 percent.
Among the questions asked were ones that revealed the total time a respondent
had used the ESG, and whether
or not the respondent had ever contacted other members they met on the
ESG by phone, postal mail or in person.
To determine if participants felt they benefited from ESG use a question
was asked about the
+ Page 49 +
amount they felt ESG involvement had improved their program of recovery.
The suggested response was four
choices; none, a little, moderately and a great deal. To determine
the nature of this benefit, three questions
addressed their frequency of using the ESG to seek advice, to give advice
or to seek support. the
suggested replies were; never, a few times, many times and almost every
time. Demographic information was
solicited. Correlations for all variables were compiled.
The recovery ESGs available on Prodigy were studied intensively for this
report. They are listed on Prodigy under
the Medical Support section. There is an alcohol abuse BB and a drug abuse
BB. Some recovering addicts are
participants in both forums. The alcohol abuse BB has many more participants
than the
drug abuse one. A participant may choose to read notes, to reply
to a note on a subject, to reply to a reply, to start
a new note on that subject, or to create a new subject.
To determine the overall usage of the Prodigy alcohol abuse BB, a count
was made of the notes posted for a 30
day period in October, 1993. The same BB was counted again for 30
days in March, 1994 to determine if the usage
rate had changed.
Results
In the initial 30 day observation period of the alcohol abuse BB on Prodigy,
there were 473 different notes posted
on 82 different subjects and 3,179 replies posted to these notes. In the
follow-up observation 4 months later, there
were 649 notes posted on 149 different subjects, with 4750 replies to those
notes, for an increase in the usage rate
of 32.4%. Seventy one people responded to
the survey, 39 men and 31 women (one person did not give their
gender). The average age was 38.4, with a range of 22 to 60. Sixty
percent of respondents reported being married.
The average number of months that respondents reported being a member of
a ESG was 7.5, with a range of .2
to 30. The average hours per week of ESG usage was 3.8, with a range
of .8 to 15.
+ Page 50 +
The average reported months in recovery was 68, with a range from .5 to
240. The amount of time the
respondents to this survey reported that they had been drug free ranged
from a few weeks to 20 years,
with an average of just over 5.5 years. The
average of the Likert scale report of improvement in
recovery program due to ESG participation, where 1 equaled the lowest and
4 the highest amount, was 2.9.
Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents reported they had made contact
with others they met on the ESG, by
phone, postal service mail or in person. This contact variable showed
a significant positive correlation with the
length of time a respondent reported being in recovery (.40 p<.01) and
the number of months of ESG use (.44
p<.001).
A significant positive correlation was found between the number of
hours per week a respondent reported that
they used the ESG and the amount they reported that ESG use improved their
program of recovery (.46 p<.01).
Improvement in recovery program was also positively correlated with total
months of BB use (.40
p<.001) and with the reported frequency that respondents used the BB
to seek advice (.46 p<.001).
Discussion
The positive correlation between ESG usage rates and the reported improvement
in recovery program seem to
indicate that a large number of addicts have found a beneficial resource,
possibly unduplicated by other means. It
appears that the regular, frequent contact with members from widely separated
backgrounds and experiences available on ESGs can significantly improve
one's ability to remain drug free. It must
be noted that almost all respondents to the survey reported that they use
ESGs to supplement regular attendance at
NA or AA. It may be that the tools many addicts use to remain drug
free (access to emotional
support, feeling a part of a peer group) are very complementary to the
advantages of ESGs. The selective
participation and the 24 hour availability provide a means of recovery
enhancement not found elsewhere, however.
+ Page 51 +
The positive correlation between the number of months a person reported
being a member of a recovery ESG
and making contact with other members by phone, postal mail or in person
raises the interesting question of what
the exact value of such a geographically extended network of friends is
for one's recovery
effort. It is possible that members who live in isolated, rural communities
are using ESGs to greatly expand their
access to emotional support. This survey result indicates that the longer
one is a member of a ESG the more likely
one is to include some members of that ESG in activities associated with
close friendship.
The positive correlation between the frequency of advice seeking and the
reported improvement in recovery
program raises a interesting question about the nature of recovery from
addiction in general. Do people who utilize
others as resources have a better chance of finding lasting recovery?
Is the willingness to
seek advice an indicator of successful treatment outcome? It is possible
that some members of ESGs find it easier
to solicit advice by means of their computer terminal than in person.
The extent and exact nature of the population of addicts who participate
worldwide on local and national recovery
ESGs is unknown, but it is large and growing rapidly. From newcomers to
people with many years drug free, addicts
with computers are discovering a means of getting and giving emotional
support and
of exchanging information that seems to complement their meeting attendance
and other recovery tools.
As a common interest group among others on these networks, the addict ESG
is unique. Many other ESGs exist
for various medical conditions and participants support each other in getting
treatment. Recovery from addiction
often requires peer support for it to be successful. Addicts who
exchange stories,
information and emotional support by computer are not just engaged in an
adjunct to their therapy, that activity is a
part of their therapy.
+ Page 52 +
Some recent notes point out the uniqueness of this format for recovery
from drug abuse. One young man shared
that he had relapsed after 8 years drug free and that he was having a hard
time getting the feelings back that he had
got before from the meetings he attended. He expressed the hope that
this
ESG would
fill a missing gap in his recovery program and allow him to remain drug
free more comfortably. A young lady wrote
in to say her parents had printed out some of the conversations on the
drug BB for her to read, hoping it would
stimulate her and assist her to avoid another relapse. A person brand new
to recovery wrote in
to express that he felt alone in the meetings and that he had trouble asking
for help there. He expressed his opinion
that posting a note asking for assistance felt safer.
Participating in the ESGs can be confusing. Some conversations will
have many participants, others only a few.
Some subjects are of wide general interest, others are not. An example
of wide interest subject would be the topic
of relapse. When someone writes in to seek help on a recent or feared
relapse back to drug use, the replies and
responses can literally pour in. Other times someone may start a
new subject just to
request advice on finding a meetings where they plan to go on vacation,
and will generally receive a few replies.
To provide additional insight into how these ESGs help a person stay off
drugs, I conducted an interview with
James K., one of the more active members of the drug abuse ESG on Prodigy.
James is also a chemical
dependency counselor. He has been a member of this virtual community
for over a year. The interview was
conducted by email.
"Why do I use the ESG? I do it for personal and professional reasons. I
like talking with the CD (chemical
dependency) counselors about professional issues. I like to share ideas
with addicts from different regions, with
different amounts of time, and different recovery experiences. By
this sharing of ideas my own recovery is
enhanced and my understanding of NA in particular is increased."
+ Page 53 +
"What are my feelings for my friends in the ESG? I have come to both
like (and love) and dislike many people
here. I have seen many come and go here during the past year, some of them
became friends and I miss them. I
spend more time here on the BB reading than writing. Whether you count
the time just reading or reading and
writing, I spend as much if not more time here with addicts than I do with
addicts face to face." (James K., 93)
Conclusions
Electronic Support Groups for recovering addicts are a new phenomenon.
They offer the addict another means
of support, a source of information and a feeling of belonging to a nationwide
virtual community. Their use is
growing rapidly. The advantages of this electronic format are numerous
and represent an addition
to the standard tools used to achieve and maintain abstinence from drugs.
The level of concern for each other shown by participants who have never
seen or heard each other is a
phenomenon that begs future study. The therapy inherent in the exchange
of experience, strength and hope on
these ESGs seems to be real, valuable, and, in many ways, unique to this
format.
One question raised by the present study is whether or not ESGs could be
recommended by addiction treatment
facilities as a way of introducing some particularly shy clients to others
in recovery. If so, can a way be found to
determine which clients would be most likely to benefit from this approach?
How much of
such a clients need for a peer support group could be filled this way?
Some people become extremely nervous when called on to do any public speaking.
Yet, active participation in AA
and NA require speaking to what are sometimes very large groups.
If addicts
fearful of this were encouraged to participate in an ESG, would the writing
of messages to a group, and the
subsequent feed back they received, help overcome this fear?
+ Page 54 +
I have documented cases of addicts who became willing to give up a destructive
drug habit for the first time after
witnessing the conversations between members of a recovery ESG. The
frequency of this type of initial exposure to
treatment for addiction is as yet unknown.
Occasionally the BB is used by non-addicts seeking advise about how to
deal with a family member still using
drugs. The replies to these notes usually constitute a referral to
programs designed to help family members of
addicts, but a lot of experience with this problem is shared too.
The psychology of virtual communities in general and of recovery ones in
particular is a subject that contains
many unknowns. How can their value to users who only read and never
respond be assessed? Are there leaders
in such recovery communities and, if so, how is such status achieved?
"The therapeutic value of one addict helping another is without parallel"
(NA Basic Text, 84). Only now, more and
more addicts are helping each other by means of a modem. This increase
will certainly continue, as addicts share
with others not yet on-line the value they have found there.
Common Terms and Acronyms in Recovery ESGs
Flame war: A heated debate
FTF: face to face, as in a live meeting
((((name))))) : Electronic hugs for person named
Lurker: Term for someone that reads and never writes.
<VBG> Very Big Grin
:) Smiley face, indicates humor.
IRL: In real life.
IMHO: In my humble opinion.
IMNSHO: In my not so humble opinion
+ Page 55 +
Table 1. Survey Questions
Very little is known about the value of these bulletin boards in
helping people achieve recovery. I am asking for anyone who is
in recovery to answer these questions so that I may submit the
results for publication. Your responding will be taken as
permission to be included in this study.
ALL RESPONSES WILL BE KEEP STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
Private replies are encouraged. The results will be posted
here after I have collected and summarized the responses.
1 How long have you been using this BB?
2 How many times per week do you use it?
3 How many minutes do you usually spend each time your
logged on here reading or writing to this BB?
4 Have you ever made contact with BB members through
phone, postal service or in person?
5 How much do you feel that your program
of recovery has
improved through the use of this BB?
(not at all, a little, moderately, a great deal)
6 How often have you written here asking for advice?
(never, a few times, many times, almost every time)
7 How often have you written here just to feel supported?
(never, a few times, many times, almost every time)
8 How often have you written here to give advice?
(never, a few times, many times, almost every time)
9 How long have you been clean and sober?
10 How many meetings of AA or NA do you attend per week?
Please include your age, race, sex, marital status and economic
status.
Just list the question number and your answer.
Thank you very much
Storm
+ Page 56 +
References
James K. Interview done on 11/28/93 by email using Prodigy
Interactive Service.
Narcotics Anonymous 1984 by World Service Office, Inc.,
Van Nuys, CA
Rheingold, Howard "Cold Knowledge and Social Warmth", Newsweek,
September 6, 1993 p 49
Rheingold, Howard "A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community",
Published electronically in the Well. @well.sf.ca.us 1992
Sparks, Susan N., "Exploring Electronic Support Groups".
American Journal of Nursing, December 1992, p 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:
Storm King graduated from the University of Hawaii,
Hilo in 1994 and is currently enrolled at the Pacific Graduate
School of Psychology in Palo Alto, CA. His interest in this
subject is both personal and professional. As a Chemical
Dependency counselor, now seeking a Ph. D. in Clinical
Psychology, he plans to use electronic support groups in the
treatment of addiction.
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Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the
21st Century
Copyright 1994 Georgetown University. Copyright of individual
articles in this publication is retained by the individual
authors. Copyright of the compilation as a whole is held by
Georgetown University. It is asked that any republication of this
article state that the article was first published in IPCT-J.
Contributions to IPCT-J can be submitted by electronic mail in
APA style to: Gerald Phillips, Editor IPCT-J GMP3@PSUVM.PSU.EDU