'In my experience …': The use of the word experience in peer online forums for mental health

Peer support online forums potentially offer accessible and inexpensive access to information and support through shared lived experience, including in relation to mental health. However, the impacts of participating in online communities are not fully understood. The present study takes a linguistic perspective to investigating how references to personal lived experience are (1) used, that is, how forum contributors present their experience and (2) responded to, that is, how forum contributors react to experience of others.

The study employs the methods of corpus-based discourse analysis using data from two mental health forums. The study design and results have been conducted in consultation with a PPI group.

When sharing what they call their experience, forum contributors typically give advice and/or provide information for the benefit of others. The most frequent information type is 'information about treatment and medication', while the most frequent advice type is 'advice to seek help'. When contributors respond to what they call others' experience, they typically express gratitude and reciprocally share their own experience. In some cases, they also explicitly articulate the impact of reading others' experience, for example, by saying that they feel less alone.

While we found some instances of negative judgements about health professionals, we did not find any clearcut instances of mis/disinformation or potentially harmful advice. Overall, the analysis supports the view that sharing lived experience in peer online mental health forums can be beneficial.