You know, I get pretty tired of reading so many therapist and doctor blogs in the blogosphere and when I go to read up about who the person writing the blog is, I find they are blogging “pseudonymously.” They won’t say much about who they are, where they practice, their experience, or — most importantly — their names.

If you’re a doctor or therapist and want the rest of the world to take you or what you have to say, well, seriously, stand behind your words with your identity. If you’re saying things on your blog you’re afraid you shouldn’t be saying for patient confidentiality reasons or because your patients might not think as highly of you, well, maybe you shouldn’t be blogging that stuff. Anybody who is ashamed of their blog (e.g., “I wouldn’t want my patients to read this!”) should probably re-evaluate what exactly they’re blogging.

Now, if you’re hiding behind a pseudonym for some legitimate reason (not sure what that might be, but if you’re blogging from China, that might be a good reason), that’s cool. But to find so many so-called “doctor’s blogs” hiding behind anonymous veneers makes me wonder about (a) whether the person is a really a doctor or therapist and (b) whether what they’re writing is of value.

This is one of the reasons real journalists have a hard time with some bloggers calling themselves journalists, because journalists are accountable for every word they write.

Bloggers, apparently, are less so.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 29 Jun 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.