Archive for the ‘Online Mental Health’ Category

It’s been awhile since our last major overhaul of the site’s layout and underlying technology, but at last it’s done! Yep, all the same content is still here, and all the same people — we just have a different look.

The issue of self-harm is gaining a higher profile, in the UK at least, but it still remains to some extent a hidden and misunderstood problem, as evidenced by the stereotype of a teenage girl cutting her arms in a dark bedroom.

Something about this article rubs me up the wrong way — maybe it’s the title itself, “Master your emotions”. The cheerful, practical, common sense tone reinforces the idea that we are messy souls who need keeping in line, and who need to enforce a certain wholesome discipline for our own good. It sounds as if an adult is taking charge of a child.

Whereas once the bullying that occurred in school corridors or in the streets could be escaped from at home, now every part of a child’s private world can be touched by bullying, and it can be seen by absolutely everyone who knows you and thousands who don’t. The scope for harassment and bullying is now immense.

Last year, I described my experiences trying to renew the digital certificate which enables this site to process data securely. Having battled with a company called RegisterFly, I wound up having a very pleasant experience with GoDaddy. Now a colleague who works in clinical trials has passed on news that the company I battled with was so bad it has actually been stripped of its ICANN accreditation. Caveat emptor!