After being in a 9-month “under review” limbo, HealthyPlace’s HONcode accreditation was revoked last month by the Health on the Net Foundation for multiple violations of the HONcode over time. The HONcode principles are a set of voluntary guidelines that suggest areas of transparency and information for medical and health oriented websites.

Here’s an example of sponsored content on HealthyPlace, with no messaging making transparent that the content was written and provided entirely by the pharmaceutical company who makes the medication (among other problems, it also lacks an author and a date of last review). (You’ll also notice this is a page which still sports the claim that they comply with the HONcode at the bottom.)

As a big resource for mental health stuff online, HealthyPlace is visited by a lot of people each month. We therefore hope to see HealthyPlace bring its content back up to the standards they once espoused and to see them once again adhere to the HONcode principles.

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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From Psych Central's World of Psychology:
What Happened to HealthyPlace? - World of Psychology (11/14/2008)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 12 Apr 2008
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.