When is “Information Therapy” Simply Learning?

April 6, 2009 · Filed Under general, policy issues, pt/doc co-care, reforming hc, trends & principles · 51 Comments

I sometimes wonder whether we complicate things that are pretty simple, by assigning more labels and new terms to things that have perfectly good labels already.

For instance, I once thought I knew what “information therapy” meant. It meant a doctor or other healthcare professional “prescribed” certain information for you to read, so you could learn about your health or mental health condition. Before the Internet, therapists called this bibliotherapy, as it usually referred to reading a certain book on depression, anxiety or the like. “Information therapy” is a fine term and all (it must be, since there’s an entire nonprofit devoted to it), but a recent blog entry over at The Health Care Blog has made me rethink whether it brings any value to the conversation.

Words must mean something unique, or else they lose all value. Look at the way Facebook and other social networks have co-opted the ordinary-looking word, “friend.” Prior to 2000, a friend was someone you knew and trusted and nearly always someone you actually knew at one time face-to-face. With its co-opted use on social networks, a “friend” now means nothing. It means someone who may have some sort of nebulous connection to you — either an acquaintance, a business associated, or even a complete stranger. It might mean your best friend, or it might mean someone you once talked to at a conference. It might mean you know them presently, or it might mean you haven’t spoken to them (even online) for 10 years. Most social networks today don’t clearly delineate the nature of the relationship and its current status.

So when I read an entry entitled, “The Great Debates,” I suspect there’ll be a lot of intelligent discussion focused around how two different philosophies and approaches might be in conflict (and how to resolve such conflict as it arises).

Tags: 10 Years, Acquaintance, Array, Best Friend, Bibliotherapy, Blog Entry, Conflict, Current Status, Debates, Depression Anxiety, Facebook, health care, information therapy, Internet Therapists, Labels, Mental Health Condition, Philosophies, Social Networks, Stranger, Time Face, Word Friend