OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH F ROM R ESEARCH TO P ROFESSIONAL P RACTICE

OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH F ROM R ESEARCH TO P ROFESSIONAL P RACTICE

The route from radicalism to practice often depends on voices that back the system and won’t be silenced. With the Internet, both the vocies and the system

248 Joanie Farley Gillispie

itself are radicalized. The heuristic in Psychology that evidence-based practice, derived of course from rigorous research, promotes positive therapeutic outcomes (Zane, 2005) is foundational. However, data from studies investigating professional issues online have not yet been digested by the average clinician (Alleman, 2002; Ritterband et al., 2003). Further, the research available is limited by methodological problems, lack of generalizability (Alleman, 2002; Kraut et al., 2004; Skinner & Zack, 2004), and the radical nature of cyborg interactions. Fortunately, evidence about the effi cacy of online treatment and professional practices are starting to appear in the psychological literature and in continuing educational workshops. This information should help clinicians expand their skills by increasing knowledge of cyber culture, the cyborg, as well as psychology online (Barnett & Sheetz, 2003; Glueckauf et al., 2003; Ragusa & VandeCreek, 2003).

There are several concerns that clinicians should keep in mind when review- ing the research. Online research, testing, and Internet-based experimenting have clear advantages (Allman, 2002; Lukoff, 2005). On the plus side is increased access to participants, especially special populations such as the disabled, the elderly, or other groups that may not participate in research because of stigma (e.g., drug deal- ers or sexual offenders). Also, more can be accomplished in less time and with lower overall expenditures.

But there is a downside. Negative effects of Internet-based research include the inability to debrief subjects immediately, over-reliance on computer technol- ogy, lack of generalizability, and inaccuracies in integrating offl ine data with online outcomes with offl ine treatment. Typically, there is more variance with online data, which may result in inaccurate, but still published, data and studies. Further, test security is a signifi cant problem online, as any experiment in the public domain can

be pirated (Naglieri et al., 2004). However, experimenting and testing using the Internet is fast becoming a standard method of research (Reips, 2000). For example, online clinical trials inves- tigating the effectiveness of Web-based cognitive behavioral interventions for panic disorder (Farvolden et al., 2004) and self-help skills for depression (Clark et al., 2004) have shown promising results for patients in reducing symptom severity and increasing treatment compliance.

In addition to cyber-based research in professional journals, there are many personal and public cyber stories that provide fodder for the analyst and angst for a public that looks to us to help solve these human problems. The Internet allows our children get to know and understand people from all corners of the world but they are also engaging in cyber sexual behaviors that are making front-page news. But they are not doing anything adults aren’t doing: online compulsions, cyber affairs, E-Bay shop-a-holics, Internet porn, live cam sexual exploitation of infants, and online gaming are front page news. Parents are shocked, kids are connected more to their online lives than to their communities, and Judges want to know how the Internet shapes anti-social acts of convicted individuals who have used the Internet

10 Cyber Shrinks: Expanding the Paradigm

as an accessory to their offenses (e.g., terrorist threats online, cyber stalking, youth sex offenders who are consumers of online porn, and pedophiles who fi le-share child pornography,). It’s not only mental health clinicians who are concerned about how to help their patients, either on- or offl ine, but social scientists and policy makers are paying attention. They want to begin informing the public about trends emerging from Internet use, especially the positive and negative psychosocial cor- relates, rather than wait the 30 years it took to disseminate information about the social and behavioral effects of television viewing (Roberts et al., 2005).

Just what do the data suggest and what do clinicians need to get from this research to help their patients? Ten years ago experts were concerned that the Internet would corrupt our youth, destroy families, suck up all our time, and turn us into automatons. As a result, a new disorder called Internet Addiction emerged (Young, 2005, 1998, 1996). Early estimates of how much time online was too much ranged from 4 to 10 hours per week (Young, 1998). Now, 2 to 10 hours per day does not necessarily appear to lead to problems (Rainie, 2005). Youth aged 8 to 18 who were classifi ed as heavy Internet users by the Kaiser Internet Survey (Roberts et al., 2005) reported spending more time with friends and family, more time for recreation and part-time jobs, and good report cards, than less frequent users (p. 51). The investigators concluded that these results “raise a red fl ag against too easily concluding that time spent with media is synonymous with time taken from other activities” (Rainie & Horrigan, 2005). One of the earliest studies examining the psychological and social correlates of Internet use found that 10% to 15% of col- lege students were more likely to experience depression, social isolation, adjustment diffi culties, and drop-out of school as a result of excessive Internet use (Kraut et al., 1998). However, eight years later, these fi ndings were disconfi rmed (Kraut et al., 2002; Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2003; Nichols & Nicki, 2004; Rainie & Horrigan, 2005; Seaman, 2005).