Cover not available
Article published In:
Online Health Communication: Expert and Lay Dialogic Practices
Edited by Anna Tereszkiewicz and Magdalena Szczyrbak
[Language and Dialogue 14:2] 2024
► pp. 239–267

Conflict resolution in online mental health support groups

The role of empathy and informal mediation

 | University of Barcelona
The literature on online mental health support groups usually stresses the harmonious side of users’ interactions. However, differences regarding the experience of the illness might escalate into social conflict. The aim of this study is to explore acts of conflict resolution in an online Spanish mental health forum for recovery from an eating disorder (ED). Focusing on a specific long dispute between one regular contributor and several other members, I perform a micro-analysis of the discursive moves deployed in this polylogue by those who act as informal mediators to mitigate negative emotions, to rephrase participants’ perspectives and to promote relational empathy within the group. The goal of mediation in the forum is to reinstate the social order of acceptable recovery practices and discourses.
Keywords: online forums, emotional support, empathy, conflict, informal mediation, eating disorders, recovery
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Conflict in online environments
    • 2.2Mediation and empathy
  • 3.Materials and methods
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2Procedure and analysis
    • 3.3Ethics
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 June 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00171.fig
References (68)
References
Aakhus, Mark and Esther Rumsey. 2010. “Crafting supportive Communication Online: A Communication Design Analysis of Conflict in an Online Support Group.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 38(1): 65–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angouri, Jo and Theodora Tseliga. 2010. “’You Have No Idea What You Are Talking About!’ From E-Disagreement to E-Impoliteness in Two Online Fora”. Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture 6(1): 57–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Antaki, Charles, Elisenda Ardévol, Francesc Núnez, and Agnès Vayreda. 2005. “’For She Who Knows Who She Is’: Managing Accountability in Online Forum Messages.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11(1): Article 6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bergman, Stina. 2019. “Different Roads to Empathy: Stage Actors and Judges As Polar Cases.” Emotions and Society 1(2): 163–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bou, Patricia and Pilar Garcés-Conejos. 2014. “Conflict Management in Massive Polylogues: A Case Study from YouTube”. Journal of Pragmatics 731: 19–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Broome, Benjamin J. 1993. “Managing Differences in Conflict Resolution: The Role of Relational Empathy.” In Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: Integration and Application, ed. by Dennis J. D. Sandole and Hugo van der Merwe, 97–111. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Brummans, Boris, Lise Higham, and François Cooren. 2022. “The Work of Conflict Mediation: Actors, Vectors, and Communicative Relationality.” Human Relations 75(4): 764–791. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burleson, Brant R. 2003. “Emotional Support Skills.” In Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills, ed. by John O. Greene and Brant R. Burleson, 551–594. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Burleson, Brant R. and Daena J. Goldsmith. 1998. “How the Comforting Process Works: Alleviating Emotional Distress Through Conversationally Induced Reappraisals.” In Handbook of Communication and Emotion: Research, Theory, Applications, and Contexts, ed. by Peter A. Andersen and Laura K. Guerrero, 245–280. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Burleson, Brant R. and Erina L. MacGeorge. 2002. “Supportive Communication.” In Handbook of Interpersonal Communication (3rd ed.), ed. by Mark L. Knapp and John A. Daly, 374–424. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Bury, Michael. 1982. “Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption.” Sociology of Health & Illness 41: 167–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cahn, Dudley D. 1992. Conflict in Intimate Relationships. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Charmaz, Kathy. 1991. Good Days, Bad Days: The Self in Chronic Illness and Time. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Cobb, Sara and Janet Rifkin. 1991. “Practice and Paradox: Deconstructing Neutrality in Mediation.” Law & Social Inquiry 16 1: 35–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colditz, Jason B., Lily H. Hsiao, Brandon G. Bergman, David W. Best, Eric G. Hulsey, Jaime E. Sidani, Bruce L. Rollman, and Kevin L. Kraemer. 2024. “Characteristics and Engagement Among English-Language Online Forums for Addiction Recovery Available in the US.” Internet Interventions 351. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costello, Leesa, Marie-Louise McDermott, and Ruth Wallace. 2017. “Netnography: Range of Practices, Misperceptions, and Missed Opportunities.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods 161: 1–12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth. 2012. “Exploring Affiliation in the Reception of Conversational Complaint Stories.” In Emotion in Interaction, ed. by Anssi Perakyla and Marja-Leena Sorjonen, 113–146. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Culpeper, Jonathan, Derek Bousfield, and Anne Wichmann. 2003. “Impoliteness Revisited: With Special Reference to Dynamic and Prosodic Aspects.” Journal of Pragmatics 35(10/11): 1545–1579. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Decety, Jean and Phillip L. Jackson. 2006. “A Social-Neuroscience Perspective on Empathy.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 (2): 54–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Della Noce, Dorothy J. 1999. “Seeing Theory in Practice: An Analysis of Empathy in Mediation.” Negotiation Journal 151: 229–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fiehler, Reinhard. 2002. “How to Do Emotions with Words: Emotionality in Conversations.” In The Verbal Communication of Emotions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. by Susan R. Fussell, 79–106. Mahwah, MJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Figueras, Carolina. 2017. “‘Pienso que tienes que salir del círculo vicioso de restricción’. Metáforas e interacción en un foro de recuperación de los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria.” Oralia 201: 121–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. “Cognitive and Affective Dimensions of Mitigation in Advice.” Corpus Pragmatics 4(1): 31–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Figueras, C. 2021. “Mitigation in Discourse: Social, Cognitive and Affective Motivations When Exchanging Advice.” Journal of Pragmatics 1731: 119–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Figueras, Carolina. 2023. “Empathy in Online Mental Health Communities.” In Stance, Inter/Subjectivity and Identity in Discourse, ed. by Marín-Arrese, Juana, Laura Hidalgo-Downing, and Juan Rafael Zamorano-Mansilla, 353–377. Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Figueras, Carolina and Barbara De Cock. 2023. “Patrones de empatía en dos foros virtuales: el caso de la diabetes y los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria.” Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación 951: 233–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frank, Arthur. 1995. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Franzke, Aline Shakti, Anja Bechmann, Michael Zimmer, Charles Ess, and the Association of Internet Researchers, and Association of Internet Research. 2002. “Ethical Decision-Making and Internet Research; Recommendations from the AOIR Ethics Working Committee.” Available at [URL], accessed on 21 January 2023.
Garcia, Angela Cora. 2000. “Negotiating Negotiation: The Collaborative Production of Resolution in Small Claims Mediation Hearings. Discourse & Society 11(3): 315–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2019. How Mediation Works. Resolving Conflict through Talk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giles, David. 2006. “Constructing Identities in Cyberspace: The Case of Eating Disorders.” British Journal of Social Psychology 451: 463–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Girdner, Linda K. 1985. “Adjudication and Mediation: A Comparison of Custody Decision/Making Processes Involving Third Parties.” Journal of Divorce 81: 33–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Graham, Sage Lambert. 2007. “Disagreeing to Agree: Conflict, (Im)Politeness and Identity in a Computer-Mediated Community.” Journal of Pragmatics 391: 742–759. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greco, Sara. 2011. Argumentation in Dispute Mediation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greco, Sara and Chiara Jermini-Martinez Soria. 2021. “Mediators’ Reframing as a Constitutive Element of Reconciliatory Argumentative Style.” Journal of Argumentation in Context 10(1): 73–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grimshaw, Allen D. 1990. “Research on Conflict Talk: Antecedents, Resources, Findings, Directions.” In Research on Conflict Talk: Sociolinguistic Investigations in Conversations, ed. by Allen D. Grimshaw, 280–324. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Heritage, John. 2011. “Territories of Knowledge, Territories of Experience: Empathic Moments in Interaction.” In The Morality of Knowledge in Conversation, ed. by Tania Stivers, Lorenza Mondada, and Jakob Steensing, 159–183. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herrmann, Margaret S., Nancy Hollett, and Jerry Gale. 2006. “Mediation from Beginning to End: A Testable Model.” In The Blackwell Handbook of Mediation. Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice, ed. by Margaret S. Herrmann, 19–78. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Janier, Mathilde. 2017. Dialogical Dynamics and Argumentative Structures in Dispute Mediation Discourse. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. University of Dundee. Retrieved from [URL]
Kendal, Sarah, Sue Kirk, Rebecca Elvey, Roger Catchpole, and Steven Pryjmachuk. 2017. “How a Moderate Online Discussion Forum Facilitates Support for Young People with Eating Disorders.” Health Expectations 20(1): 98–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kleinke, Sonja. 2008. “Emotional Commitment in Public Political Internet Message Boards.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 27(4): 409–421. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kozinets, Robert. 2015. Netnography: Redefined. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Kozinets, Robert, Pierre Dolbec, and Amanda Earley. 2014. “Netnographic Analysis: Understanding Culture through Social Media Data.” In SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, ed. by Uwe Flick, 262–275. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kummervold, Per E., Deede Gammon, Svein Bergvik, Jan-Are K. Johnsen, Toralf Hasvold, and Jan H. Rosenvinge. 2002. “Social Support in a Wired World: Use of online Mental Health Forums in Norway.” Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 56(1): 59–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kupetz, Maxi. 2014. “Empathy Displays as Interactional Achievements: Multimodal and Sequential Aspects.” Journal of Pragmatics 611: 4–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luzón, María José. 2013. “’This is an Erroneous Argument’: Conflict in Academic Blog Discussions.” Discourse, Context and Media 21: 111–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacKay, Ruth, Jean R. Hughes, and E. Joyce Carver. 1990. Empathy in the Helping Relationship. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Martinovski, Bilyana. 2006. “Framework for the Analysis of Mitigation in Courts: Toward a Theory of Mitigation.” Journal of Pragmatics 38(12): 2065–2086. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCormack, Abby and Neil S. Coulson. 2009. “Individuals with Eating Disorders and the Use of Online Support Groups as a Form of Social Support.” Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 3(2), Article 5. Available at [URL]
McNamara, Niamh and Harriet Parsons. 2016. “Everyone Here Wants Everyone Else to Get Better”: The Role of Social Identity in Eating Disorder Recovery.” The British Journal of Social Psychology 55(4): 662–680. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moor, Peter J., Ard Heuvelman, and Ria Verleur. 2010. “Flaming on YouTube.” Computers in Human Behavior 26(6): 1536–1546. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nambisan, Priya. 2011. “Information Seeking and Social Support in online Health Communities: Impact on Patients’ Perceived Empathy.” Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 181: 298e–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neurauter, Manuela. 2011. “Im/polite Reader Responses on British Online News Sites.” Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture 7(2): 187–214.Google Scholar
Pendry, Louise F. and Jessica Salvatore. 2015. “Individual and Social Benefits of Online Discussion Forums.” Computers in Human Behavior 501: 211–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Preece, Jennifer J., and Kambiz Ghozati. 2001. “Experiencing Empathy Online.” In The Internet and Health Communication: Experience and Expectations, ed. by Ronald R. Rice, and James E. Katz, 237–260. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pudlinski, Chistopher. 2005. “Doing Empathy and Sympathy: Caring Responses to Troubles Tellings on a Peer Support Line.” Discourse Studies 7(3): 267–288. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rayland, A. and Jacob Andrews. 2023. “From Social Network to Peer Support Network: Opportunities to Explore Mechanisms of Online Peer Support for Mental Health.” JMIR Mental Health 101: 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sanahuges, Carme and Hortènsia Curell. 2020. “Responding to Trouble: An interactional Approach to Empathy in Catalan and English.” Corpus Pragmatics 41: 449–472. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandaunet, Anne-Grete. 2008. “A Space for Suffering: Communicating Breast Cancer in an Online Self-Help Context.” Qualitative Health Research 18(12): 1631–1641. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soini, Aleksi and Kirsi Eräranta. 2023. “Collaborative Construction of the Closet (in and out): The affordance of Interactivity and Gay and Lesbian Employees’ Identity Work Online.” Organization 30(1): 21–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sproull, Lee and Sara Kiesler. 1986. “Reducing Social Context Cues: Electronic Mail in Organizational Communication.” Management Science 321: 1492–1512. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stommel, Wyke. 2009. Entering and Online Support Group on Eating Disorders: A Discourse Analysis. Amsterdam: Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stommel, Wyke and Toom Koole. 2010. “The Online Support Group as a Community: A Micro-Analysis of the Interaction with a New Member.” Discourse Studies 12(3): 357–378. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vayreda, Agnès and Charles Antaki. 2009. “Social Support and Unsolicited Advice in a Bipolar Disorder Online Forum.” Qualitative Health Research 19(7): 931–942. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weber, H. L. 2011. “Missed cues: How Disputes Can Socialize Virtual Newcomers.” Language@Internet 81, Article 5.Google Scholar
Williams, Gareth. 1984. “The Genesis of Chronic Illness: Narrative Re-Construction.” Sociology of Health & Illness 61: 175–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Worley, Susan M. and Andrew I. Schwebel. 1985. “The Effect of Cooperation on Egocentrism in Divorce Mediation.” Journal of Divorce 8(3–4): 151–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar