Their use is growing rapidly. The advantages of this electronic format are numerous and represent an addition to the standard tools used to achieve and maintain abstinence from drugs. The level of concern for each other shown by participants who have never seen or heard each other is a phenomenon that begs future study. The therapy inherent in the exchange of experience, strength and hope on these ESGs seems to be real, valuable, and, in many ways, unique to this format. One question raised by the present study is whether or not ESGs could be recommended by addiction treatment facilities as a way of introducing some particularly shy clients to others in recovery.
Some people become extremely nervous when called on to do any public speaking.
Yet, active participation in AA and NA require speaking to what are sometimes very large groups. The frequency of this type of initial exposure to treatment for addiction is as yet unknown. Occasionally the BB is used by non-addicts seeking advise about how to deal with a family member still using drugs. The replies to these notes usually constitute a referral to programs designed to help family members of addicts, but a lot of experience with this problem is shared too. The psychology of virtual communities in general and of recovery ones in particular is a subject that contains many unknowns.