Patient-to-patient E-mail: support for clinical practices

Support groups are reported as helpful for some individuals with eating disorders. Such groups enable information sharing as well as support with recovery. For clinicians with small numbers of eating disorder patients in their practices, support groups within the practice are not feasible. However, with the availability of the internet, clinicians may facilitate support between two or more similarly afflicted patients through an e-mail connection. The selection and matching of patients is described, as well as the potential benefits and risks of this type of adjunctive intervention. Overall, this type of support appears to be a positive experience for patients.