Table Of ContentMental Health in the Digital Age
AlsobySheriBauman
CYBERBULLYING:WhatCounselorsNeedtoKnow
SPECIALTOPICSFORTHEHELPINGPROFESSIONALS
PREVENTINGADOLESCENTDEPRESSIONANDSUICIDEAMONGLATINAS:
ResilienceResearchandTheory(co-author)
PRINCIPLESOFCYBERBULLYINGRESEARCH:Definition,Methods,and
Measures(co-editor)
AlsobyIanRivers
BULLYING:ExperiencesandDiscoursesofSexualityandGender(co-editor)
LESBIAN,GAY,BISEXUALANDTRANSGENDERAGEING:ProvidingEffective
SupportthroughBiographicalPractice(co-editor)
OUTOFTHEORDINARY:RepresentationsofLGBTLives(co-editor)
HOMOPHOBICBULLYING:ResearchandTheoreticalPerspectives
BULLYING:AHandbookforEducatorsandParents(co-author)
Mental Health in the
Digital Age
Sheri Bauman
Professor,DepartmentofDisabilityandPsychoeducationalStudies,Universityof
Arizona,USA
Ian Rivers
ProfessorofHumanDevelopment,DepartmentofEducation,BrunelUniversity
London,UK
©SheriBaumanandIanRivers2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-33316-2
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Contents
ListofFigures vi
AbouttheAuthors vii
1 OverviewofMentalHealthintheDigitalAge 1
2 MentalHealthontheInternet:OpportunityorDanger? 7
3 MentalHealthTreatment 26
4 ResearchandEthicsintheDigitalAge 51
5 RisksandResilienceinCyberspace 65
6 SocialNetworking 79
7 BeingConnected:FriendshipsandSocialInteractions 103
8 VirtualWorlds 117
9 Representing“TheSelf”Online 141
10 Conclusion 156
References 161
Index 176
v
Figures
2.1 GroupTherapyintheDigitalAge 14
vi
About the Authors
SheriBaumanisaprofessoranddirectoroftheCounselinggraduate
programattheUniversityofArizona.Priortoearningherdoctorate
in 1999, she worked in public schools for 30 years, 18 of those as a
school counselor. She is a licensed psychologist (currently inactive).
Sheconductsresearchonbullying,cyberbullying,andpeervictimiza-
tion,andalsostudiesteacherresponsestobullying.Sheisafrequent
presenter on these topics at local, state, national, and international
conferences.SheistheauthorofSpecialTopicsforHelpingProfessionals
andCyberbullying:WhatCounselorsNeedtoKnow,andisleadeditorof
Principles of Cyberbullying Research: Definition, Measures, and Methods.
She is the author of over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals,
manybookchapters,threetrainingDVDs,andnumerousotherpub-
lications.ShehasbeentherecipientoftwograntsfromtheNational
ScienceFoundationandisnowbeginningworkonagrantfromthe
NationalInstituteofJusticetoinvestigatehowSchoolResourceOffi-
cersimpactschoolclimateandsafety,andtotestthevalueaddedof
anenhancedmodelfortrainingschoolresourceofficers.
Ian Rivers is a professor within the Department of Education at
Brunel University London and holds visiting professorships at the
UniversityofStrathclydeandAngliaRuskinUniversity.HeisaHealth
Care and Professional Council registered psychologist, and for over
20yearshasbeenanactiveresearcherinthefieldofbullyingbehavior
anddiscrimination.HeistheauthorofHomophobicBullying:Research
and Theoretical Perspectives, and lead author of Bullying: A Handbook
for Educators and Parents. He is a recipient of the British Psychologi-
calSociety’sAwardforPromotingEqualityofOpportunityintheUK,
and regularly writes for the Times Educational Supplement on school
behavior issues. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Asso-
ciation,theBritishPsychologicalSociety,andtheAcademyofSocial
Sciences.
vii
1
Overview of Mental Health
in the Digital Age
Mental health is defined by the World Health Organization
(WHO) as, “a state of well-being in which an individual can
realise his or her own potential, cope with the normal stresses of
life, work productively, and make a contribution to the commu-
nity” (http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/215275/
RC63-Fact-sheet-MNH-Eng.pdf?ua=1, p. 1). This definition is also
used by the Centers for Disease Control in the United States (US).
Indicators of mental health include perceived life satisfaction, gen-
erallypositiveemotions,optimism,purposeinlife,healthyrelation-
ships with others, and self-acceptance. Mental health is the optimal
psychological state, and attaining that state is a putative goal for
people everywhere. It is part of overall health, and is influenced by
genetic,biological,andenvironmentalfactors.
On the other hand, mental illness is a serious public health
problem around the world, with about 450 million people hav-
ingamentalhealthdisorder(http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-
information/mental-health-statistics/UK-worldwide/). Anxiety and
depression are the most common disorders. About 25% of adults in
theUSandUnitedKingdom(UK)willexperienceamentalillnessin
a given year, while 13% of US youth aged 8–15 and 20% of adoles-
cents aged 13–18 will have a severe mental disorder in a given year,
alongwith13%ofthoseaged8–15(NAMI,2013,http://www.nami.
org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf).In the US, the economic
impactofmentalillnessisenormous.Itisestimatedthat$193.2bil-
lion in earnings are lost to mental illness each year; in the UK, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
1
2 MentalHealthintheDigitalAge
estimatesthatthecostofmentalhealthproblemsisabout£70billion
peryear.Inadditiontotheeconomicimpact,thereareothernegative
consequences. For example, more than 50% of US students aged 14
and older with mental disorders drop out of school (NAMI). Unfor-
tunately,about60%ofadultswithmentalillness,andhalfofyoung
peopleaged8–15,donotreceiveservicesfortheircondition(NAMI).
IntheWHOEuropeanregion,about25–35%ofthepopulationhasa
mentaldisorderinagivenyear,butasintheUS,onlyhalfofpeople
withthesedisordersreceivetreatment,andnotallofthattreatment
is of good quality. Although rates of mental illness vary depending
on the disorders included and the source of data, there is no doubt
that these disorders affect significant numbers of people, negatively
impacttheirqualityoflife,andinvolvelossestosocietyatlarge.
Wenowliveinaworldthatissaturatedbydigitaltechnology.The
changes that have come about as a result of this technology have
beendescribedas“theIndustrialRevolutionofourtime”(Kaufman,
2012).TheWorldWideWebwasintroducedinthe1990sandbythe
endofthatdecadehadbecomepartoflifeforasignificantportionof
the population. In the 2000s, computers became faster and smaller,
mobile phones were commonplace, and many people in the devel-
oped world began to rely on this technology to navigate their daily
lives. In the current decade, the 2010s, we have smart phones and
tablets and cloud computing, all of which put the Internet at our
fingertips.
There are those who would draw a connection between the risks
inherent in the new technologies and increases in mental health
problems,buttoourknowledgesuchaconnectionisnotsupported
bydata.Aswithearlierinnovations(telephones,television),thenov-
eltyevokesfears,andthemediasometimesinflamesthesefearswith
coverage of extreme cases of harmful consequences of technology
use.Inreality,therearebothrisksandbenefitstodigitaltechnology,
andwebelievethatthebenefitsfaroutweightherisks.Nevertheless,
it is important to understand the intersection of mental health and
digital technology in order to make informed decisions about the
manyoptionsavailableincyberspace.
Thequestionsweaddressinthisbookare:
1. Is mental health enhanced or diminished by the digitization of
ourworld?
