Facebook online support groups are an important community for individuals who experience a particular illness and they also represent groups through which people are able to connect with other patients. There are various reasons for which people join online support groups. Individuals turn to support groups in search for information about their illness, when they need emotional support and comfort and when they search for useful advice circulating among members. When patients encounter doctors who are inadequately equipped with information they start searching for answers elsewhere, like for example online and in support groups. Furthermore, support groups offer a significant amount of emotional support and comfort, which facilitates coping with the disease. One of the reasons for self–medication within online support groups also originates from the relationship the medical system has with the treatment and the trust individuals develop towards doctors based on personal experience. Thus, the role of medicine is relativized and the patient becomes an active link in the process of treatment, where the primary source of information is no longer the doctor but the internet.
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