Do you know where your Internet health information comes from?

The Internet is full of health information, including information about obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and other mental illnesses.

That’s a good thing. People can find out valuable information about a disorder that he or she or a loved one has been diagnosed with, and that information can augment the information their physicians and therapists are providing.

But as with all searches on the Internet, caution must be taken when relying on the Internet for health information.

For almost eight years, I worked as a public health educator. As a health educator, I conducted research and created materials to promote wellness in the community. I wrote educational materials, gave talks in the community and talked one-on-one with patients in clinics.

Many times, I had ready-made materials at hand, sometimes not.

I worked with a lot of people to make sure I had the right information to give out, including physicians, dentists, nurses and environmental health specialists.

I also learned how to use the Internet as a research tool.

When I was in graduate school, I learned how to conduct research. That goes along with any program that includes a thesis.

But back then, the Internet was in the very early stages of being used by librarians.

While I was a health educator, I learned what to consider when visiting different sites. I found a compilation of much of that advice on the website of the Medical Library Association:

Consider the source. MLA uses the following example to illustrate this: “There is a big difference between a site that says, ‘I developed this site after my heart attack’ and one that says, ‘This page on heart attack was developed by health professionals at the American Heart Association.’”

Focus on quality. Consider whether or not the site has an editorial board. Look for information on the editorial policy or review policy.

Be a cyberskeptic. Consider if the site makes claims that sound too good to be true. Consider if the site is the only source for the information.

Look for the evidence. Rely on medical research, not opinion.

Check for currency. Make sure the latest information is being provided. Look for the last time it was updated. Check for broken links.

Beware of bias. Find out who is funding the site. Make sure advertisements are labeled.

Protect your privacy. Look for the privacy policy of the site. Your health information should be confidential.

Consult with your health professional. Partnerships between the health professional and the patient lead to the best medical decisions.

A go-to source for me is MedlinePlus, a site provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This site leads me to information about a wide variety of health information, and it’s a place where I start many of my searches.

Today, I looked up obsessive-compulsive disorder on the site. The site provided me with links to organizations and agencies such as the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the institutes within NIH; the American Academy of Family Physicians; the American Medical Association; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; International OCD Foundation and Anxiety Disorders Association of American.

It also had links to journal articles, organizations, directories and statistics.

There are many reliable, up-to-date resources on the Internet for health information, including mental health information. I hope these tips will help lead you in the right direction.

How much of your health information do you get from the Internet? What are your go-to websites, and why are they helpful to you?

Waiting

When I was a child and teenager, I spent a lot of time waiting.

Some of this waiting happened in actual waiting rooms, places of concentrated calm in the midst of the sadness and fear of hospitals.

I was surrounded by sickness growing up. I’m the youngest of three, with two older brothers. My oldest is 11 years older than me. My next oldest is two years older.

My next oldest brother was born with spina bifada and clubfeet. As a result, he had to have multiple surgeries as a child and spent a lot of time in the hospital.

My father had a major stroke when he was 54. I was 12 at the time. His speech and movement were badly affected, and he had to retire from his job as a rural letter carrier for the post office. Later that same year, he suffered a blood clot in one of his kidneys and almost died before the kidney was removed.

My mother also had her share of illnesses and hospital visits.

So the waiting rooms in the hospitals in the nearby city were very familiar to me.

The nicest one was at the then-private, church-supported hospital. The large main waiting room had real furniture, like you’d find in a private home. Chair railings ran along the wall. Paintings covered the walls.

There were volunteers stationed at a counter who watched over things. They were usually older women who wore the pink-jacket “uniforms” of hospital volunteers. They were called “Pink Ladies.”

Though people came and went, there was a hush over the room. No one spoke loudly or laughed or cried where you could hear. It was like a church.

At that time and in that place, my parents felt safe leaving me alone in the waiting room while they went up to be with my brother.

I always had a book with me, and I would sit and read in one of the nice green armchairs, my always-present purse tucked up against me. Sometimes, I would look up and stare at the paintings or the signs on the wall and on the swinging doors that went back into the main part of the hospital.

I started reading signs and dividing the letters into threes—my counting ritual—in that room.

If I wasn’t in a waiting room, I was usually with a relative. I grew up in the same community with many of my relatives. I stayed a lot with my father’s great-aunt or his cousin, who had two daughters near my age, or my mother’s sister.

My great-aunt made over me, and I felt safe with her. If I stayed overnight, she would sleep in the same bed with me.

I remember waking up in the early mornings. I could look out of the top of a nearby window while I was still lying down, and I’d watch the sky get lighter until my aunt woke up and then got me up.

I brushed my teeth in her bathroom and ate breakfast on her dishes and got on the school bus at the end of her driveway, feeling comfortable and homesick at the same time.

I never knew when a medical emergency would occur and somebody would have to go to the hospital. I got used to waiting somewhere.

My mother told me years ago that one morning when I was a child, I asked her, “Who’s going to keep me today?”

She said it made her feel really bad.

But it couldn’t be helped. The sick person needed her, and she couldn’t be everywhere at once.

I felt guilty sometimes because I didn’t have lots of illnesses. I thought that since I didn’t suffer as a child, God would have me be sick as an adult.

What was ironic was that even though I wasn’t physically sick where anyone would notice, I was beginning to suffer from OCD and depression.

My therapist told me that the content of OCD symptoms can be influenced by different things. I think my scrupulosity was probably affected by my life experiences. My prayers were meant to protect my family from harm and illness. They had to be said a certain way, and I had to be free from sin, or my family would not be under protection.

In a real way, though, I was praying for myself too. Because when my family got sick, I was back to waiting for someone to get well or die, for everything to be back to normal.

A hodge-podge at the end of the year

I read an interesting article in the local daily newspaper today that led me to a website that measures people’s implicit attitudes towards mental illness.

Visitors to the Project Implicit Mental Health website can measure their implicit assessments of things like anxiety, depression and people with mental illness.

Project Implicit Mental Health is part of a larger research program, Project Implicit.

Project Implicit's information site shows the study’s website findings after seven years, including the finding that people’s implicit biases can predict behavior.

I’m glad people’s attitudes about mental illness are being studied.

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Thanks to those of you who commented about my decision to try ERP. I appreciate the support. I’m excited! I won’t see my psychiatrist for two weeks, and then I’ll have to wait for an appointment with the cognitive therapy specialist.

I would like to do some research on the therapy beforehand. Any suggestions on sources that have helped you?

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  I am setting goals for myself instead of resolutions, as some of you have suggested. Goals can be made anytime and aren’t tied to Jan. 1. I can make them as I go along.

And I don’t have to take on all my goals at once. I can work on one at a time if I want, and really get specific about the objectives and steps I need to make to reach the goal.

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  I am so glad I started blogging! It has been a beautiful experience for me, and I look forward to writing and posting in 2012.

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  Here are some quotations that are meaningful to me that I would like to share:

“The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats . . .”

-Albert Schweitzer

“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.”

-Albert Schweitzer

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”

-Joan Didion

“Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance.”

-Dan Greenburg

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

-Matthew 25: 35-40 (NIV)

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I wish you all a safe, productive and beautiful 2012. Happy New Year!