This article doesn’t present research findings, but describes a kind of web-based self-help that has flourished in Australia for some time now, born of necessity, since so many citizens live far from urban centers where most of the “live” mental health services are.
 
As a result, the Centre for Mental Health Research at Australian National University, in Canberra has developed an e-hub group that delivers automated web interventions (BluePages, MoodGYM, E-Couch and an online bulletin board BlueBoard ) to the public for mental health self-help.

My name is Janie.  My 6-year-old daughter is currently being seen by clinical psychologist.  My daughter has been diagnosed with social anxiety and possible ADHD [attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder].  These things bring out some negative behaviors on a daily basis that can be very stressful for me to experience.  My therapist thought that some of your audio imagery might be very useful to me.  
 
As a full-time mom I am with my daughter most of the time. Therefore the stress can be prolonged on bad days.  I have tried psychotherapy to help cope with feelings of impatience, frustration, and sometimes anger.  The psychotherapy helped up to a point. Then I took up yoga and found it also helped, particularly the attention to breathing techniques.  I love yoga but cannot often attend.  
 
I viewed your CD selections on healthjourneys.com and was unsure which to begin with.  Basically I am seeking help to cope with the frustration and stress I experience before they build up into anger, yelling, and so on.  I adore my daughter, and naturally I want to not only restrain myself from getting angry and yelling at her, but also to be a good role model.

We found attached to an order form a thank you from a woman named Mary, who wrote that our guided imagery targeted toward fertility had really helped her, and, subsequently, the pregnancy/childbirth imagery, too.  We wrote back, asking if she really thought the imagery helped her conceive, or if she was just being nice, and also, what else did she try to help move the process along. Here’s what she wrote back – very helpful info for those in a similar scenario:

Hello again.

Lately I seem to be having a lot of conversations with friends about clearing out clutter. This is probably part of a post-child rearing, de-nesting phase.  Most of the people I talk to want to do it.  They feel oppressed by the stuff surrounding them. I think it actually creates a subtext of constant, subtle stress.  But they also feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the job.  After years of inadvertent accumulation, let me tell you, it can be a pretty daunting prospect.

When I was getting ready to sell my big, old, Charles Addams-esque house in Cleveland Heights (designed for relentless entertaining from when my husband was a grad school dean), I was taken firmly in hand by my real estate agent and told that clean surfaces, open spaces and orderly closets would be the sine qua non of unloading that sucker.

Question:

I have attended a couple of your programs. At the one in Virginia and the Washington DC area, you mentioned some tips for the caregiver for your loved one with cancer.

It was a listing of 'helpful hints' for people/family who are impacted by the diagnosis of life-threatening cancer - i.e. setting boundaries with others who want to share their story...etc.

Would you be so kind as to repeat this?  As an oncology nurse manager, I have to assist the caregiver as well as the person with cancer during this process, and I thought what you were speaking about would be a help to them and their journey.

Thank you and be well

Tom

Researchers from Boston University conducted an effect size analysis of MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) for anxiety and mood symptoms in clinical samples. The meta-analysis was based on 39 studies totaling 1,140 participants receiving mindfulness-based therapy for a range of conditions, including cancer, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and other psychiatric or medical conditions.
 
Effect size estimates suggest that mindfulness-based therapy was moderately effective for improving anxiety (Hedges's g = 0.63) and mood symptoms (Hedges's g = 0.59) from pre- to posttreatment in the overall sample.

A friend of mine recommended guided imagery for surgery --- her surgeon had recommended it to her. I was lucky to find out that Kaiser carries this in their Health Education stores and I was able to get it there. I listened to the "pre-surgery" (tracks 2 and 3) portion each evening for a couple of weeks before my (hip replacement) surgery (skipping past the intro each evening).

I took my portable CD player into pre-op with me and was listening to it as they prepared me for the operating room, and was still listening to it as they wheeled me down the hall.

I’m not someone who’s big on routine.  I don’t need a fixed, daily structure to get a lot of work done - I’m pretty internally driven - and, because I can only write and think so much on any given day, I prefer to let my impulse to work drive me. That’s also true of my impulse to get away from work.

That means that on some days I’ll work 14 hours, and on others barely at all. Sometimes, in the middle of writing a piece, I know I have to get away from it in order to wrap my mind around it in a better way, and so playing hookey is part of getting the job done - or so I tell myself.  (A lot of writers will relate to this, I suspect.)

Question:
Dear Belleruth,
I am leaving soon for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, to provide mental health services to our military and their families. I have been in private practice for the last 6 years, and have used your book Invisible Heroes and CD's nearly daily. My question is this:
Do you have any advice for me as I begin this two year assignment?
Warm Regards,
Paul