Layout of main page
How do I get the contents box BELOW the main title box?
What we want here
I would assume that the best thing we could expect from users of psychology services and their relatives/families/friends would be for them to contribute with their subjective experiences of using those services.
Unless the user is a student or academic I would think it would be best for them not to contribute to the main article on a subject, but rather to a seperate, "experiences" article.
For example, a person with Bi-Polar disorder could over excellent and useful contributions in the following areas
- Experiences of Bipolar Disorder
- Experiences of medication: Atypical AntiPsychotics: Risperidone
- Experiences of medical professionals, doctors etc
- Experiences of psychology professionals, CBT, other therapy etc...
This would be radically different from the Wikipedia approach. These experiences would NOT be neutral point of view and NOT be encyclopedic content. They would be subjective introspection, a viewpoint which was very important in psychology's early history but one which is increasingly neglected nowadays.
By reading subjective reports of other peoples experiences with say, depression or anti depressants, it would allow other users/friends/relatives/doctors to gain valuable insight into the experiences of these people, which would be valuable to both professionals and to society as a whole.
Pre-requisites
We would need:
- Anonymity
- Consent/Confidentiality.
- Adequate structure. I would think that people could leave subjective experiences in the talk section of their userpage. As userpages are capable of being anonymous that sure ensure confidentiality
- Possibly experiences should be added as a .pdf? this is one thing you would not want other users to edit!
Greetings!
Hello to those of you whom I haven't met yet! (Most of you.) I am so excited to contribute to this website, and hope to get to know you folks! First of all, I wanted to give my input about the current discussion regarding personal accounts of mental illness, etc. I had a couple things come to mind that I want to share.
- I think that there should be consideration of a limitations regarding accounts of suicide, and the topic in general. I have seen other psych websites, PsychCentral for example, that have had to implement regulations about this due to the dangerous possibilities. For example, if someone was currently having suicidal ideation, this would not (in my opinion) be the place for them to post about that, because it's so imperative that they seek help elsewhere, and not expect this to be a place where they will receive counseling. I am a compassionate individual, so don't get me wrong, I just think that there are many other more appropriate ways for someone in that situation to seek help, and we should encourage them to do so in my opinion.
- Also, would limitations also need to be implemented to prevent personal accounts of mental illness taking over the more scholarly perspective that (I think) this website is aiming for?
Another thing I wanted to ask about was the article to which this discussion page belongs. I wanted to point out that where it says, "The experiences of 'normal' people who do not have formal training are still very valuable however" could possibly be taken the wrong way. I'm sure that this is unintentional, but just wanted to bring this to your attention, as it may discourage people with mental illnesses to participate in this project, especially if it involves openly discussing very sensitive issues, which you are discussing.
Thanks for your dialog, guys! I hope I don't sound overbearing or haughty! :)
Sonrisasgrandes 21:23, 8 July 2006 (UTC) :)
Hi Sonrisa,
Sorry I didn't find your comments here until just now. We are still in the early stages of setting up this site and are so busy that some peoples comments have slipped us by. The best place to leave messages are on peoples Talk pages.
In answer to your questions:
- Yes, you are right, we should not have experiences of suicide here. This is not a place for counselling or treatment as our disclaimer on the main page explain. You are right though that we need to make this very clear, with disclaimers on all Personal Experience pages perhaps. Accounts of experiences that included suicidal feelings though are acceptable at present, but we are still forming our policies surrounding this issue. We would encourage anyone who feels that way at present to seek treatment, and also we are discriminating in what we post, we will not post innapropriate experiences on the Wiki.
- Yes, we dont want these experiences to overtake the more scholarly side. If we were overrun with these experiences then it could be an issue, but at present there are only a few, so it doesn't matter yet. We will sort out our policy on this as and when it becomes a problem.
- Yes, you are right, perhaps the way I phrased it sounded offputting. The good thing about a Wiki is that we can change it. Perhaps you could rephrase this page appropriately?
Great to hear from you anyway Mostly Zen 
(talk) 23:08, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
Users of psychology services
Its important to remember this would include people on the receiving end of services provided by educational and organisational psychologists, life coaches etc, as well as clinical psychologists16:18, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
Formatting
I think that these pages were easier to read when the text was not centered. Andrew Schramm (talk) 15:35, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
Suicide Experiences
On the topic of suicide user experiences mentioned above, perhaps it should be more segregated than restricted or censored? Sometimes reading a story of suicidality can be inspiring in a positive way, but other times read in a negative way. If placed in a special place, the viewer/reader might be able to determine if able to handle a frank discussion of the topic with appropriate warnings, resources and such? Bikenotmed 00:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
Experiences referenced inline
I would urge the experiences to be referenced directly in the article, and perhaps in a template for each article, so that consumers are not further marginalized... Bikenotmed 00:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)