Web Pages Devoted to Mental Health in

¶ … web pages devoted to mental health in general and mood disorders in specific. CANMAT and Dr. Ivan's Depression Central are two worth investigating. The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) is an organization of Canadian mental health professionals who specialize in mood and anxiety disorders. CANMAT runs an educational and informative website, http://www.canmat.org.Whilenot the most navigable site on the Web, http://www.canmat.org/isa non-commercial, reliable source of information about depression and anxiety.

While the "Where to Find Help" section is aimed at Canadian residents, the information on mood and anxiety disorders contained in the site is universal. The CANMAT board of trustees consists of 21 psychiatrists and one psychologist, all of whom are associated with major Canadian universities. They are not trying to sell anything; there are no links to pharmaceutical companies nor are there pop-up ads. The site's content is edited and compiled by an MD.

There are sections tailored to sufferers of mood and anxiety disorders: "Depressed? Anxious?" is one of the headings, as is "Bipolar." Within each heading is a series of articles defining symptoms and treatments of specific disorders. There is an FAQ list for each issue and it is obvious that the layperson is the focus for these sections. The articles are written in plain language and devoid of jargon or excessive references to clinical research. However, there are several sections for professionals.

Click on "Psychiatrists" or "GPs/FPs" and you are faced with links to scientific studies. The studies listed are fairly recent, within three years old. But clearly the main audience for CANMAT.org is people who suffer from or know someone who suffers from one of the mood disorders; even the "Psychiatrists" and "GPs/FPs" sections contain articles written in plain, easy to read language. Information on this website is probably written by CANMAT members, although the articles do not list authors and there are usually no references sited.

This weakness in documentation must be forgiven in light of the quality of information offered and the reputation of CANMAT. And information is verifiable when checked against related web pages. For example, symptoms listed as signs of a manic episode of bipolar disorder on CANMAT.org are comparable to those listed on the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) website. The CANMAT website does not seem to include more than one perspective; it provides a clear, unambiguously clinical approach to mood and anxiety disorders.

There is no room for alternative health or experimental treatments, although there are calls for participants in clinical trials. While the information is not misleading in any way, the website is also quite limited in the variety of perspectives and sources it provides. Drug treatments seem to be favored or encouraged; at the end of some of the articles a few sentences are often devoted to preferred standard pharmaceutical treatments.

There is emphasis on the fact that the site is run by Canadian professionals, because treatments would differ from country to country. There is no bibliography on the CANMAT website. Presumably that is because the board members write the articles based on their own knowledge. However, when statistics are provided, there are no references. This would be problematic but for the stature of the CANMAT members. And because the audience of CANMAT.com is the layperson, extensive clinical trial listings would clutter the site unnecessarily.

Despite the lack of bibliography, the content of the articles is trustworthy, given the authority of the CANMAT body. Some articles like "Complications of Mood Disorders: Substance Abuse" do contain specific references, in this case to the journal Addiction. The CANMAT site, while useful for information and clear definitions of mood and anxiety disorders, is limited in value and scope. There are few links; the only two are to Health Canada's Canadian Health Network (http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/)anda broken link to Alta Vista.

Compared to the Health Canada website, CANMAT is much narrower in focus, specifically oriented towards mood and anxiety disorders like phobia and depression. There are a few decent articles on the Health Canada website, but none that compare with CANMAT. In fact, Health Canada links to CANMAT for further information on mental health. A government organization like Health Canada adds credibility to CANMAT by linking to it explicitly, but this may also indicate that both websites are weak in providing further information.

The information provided on CANMAT.com is primarily factual. There is no discernable attempt for any of the content authors or the site editor to impart opinion.

A sentence like "It is probably best to avoid any medication out of concern for potential drug effects on the developing infant, at least during the first trimester of pregnancy" is immediately followed by the following advice: "This is a very personal decision, however, and if a woman is in acute distress, treatment with the appropriate medication may be necessary." While it seems that statistics are often thrown in for shock value, there is no motive behind this; CANMAT is not trying to sell anything or promote a certain viewpoint.

There is a decent "Where to Find Help" section, focused on Canada, of course. But there is little contact information for the editors of or contributors to the CANMAT website. The only e-mail address provided is one for Continuing Medical Education programs; not even the Webmaster of the site provides an e-mail. Despite these shortcomings, the CANMAT website is a good place for anyone to learn the basics about mood and anxiety disorders. However, Dr.

Ivan's Depression Central web site is more comprehensive and offers more links, references, resources, and articles on mood disorders. At first glance, Dr. Ivan's Depression Central (http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.html) appearsto be an amateur clearinghouse of articles related to depression. However, the site is filled with links to sites like the Mayo Clinic and the University of Pennsylvania, and contains articles written by psychiatrists and psychologists. All articles are properly referenced. The author and editor of the site, himself a psychiatrist, provides his own contact information. Dr.

Ivan Goldberg's site, like the CANMAT site, has no commercial motives and exists primarily for educating and informing the general public about depression and related disorders. Dr. Ivan's Depression Central is far more useful than the CANMAT site; it contains a slew of links to reputable organizations and all information is current, factual, and from diverse sources. While the.