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The recent multiple suicides in Bridgend in the UK has highlighted concerns about the potential for certain websites to facilitate or encourage suicide. But one site is dedicated to the prevention of self harm and emotional desperation and has reinvented traditional support systems for the online generation: Big White Wall.

Whilst attempts by government and regulatory bodies to improve the safety of youngsters and others online are laudable, it is also important to appreciate how websites like bigwhitewall.com help thousands of people each day deal with anxiety, depression, social isolation and related issues. Its founder Jenny Hyatt commented: ’People have lost their traditional support networks due to increasing mobility, work pressures and the greater likelihood of them living alone. This has resulted in a greater emphasis on the individual having to cope alone in contemporary society. While the internet can be a dangerous place for people who are vulnerable, it can also be a lifeline if such people know where to go.’

Big White Wall was launched in October 2007 as the online specialist in emotional health. Its founder, Jenny Hyatt, is a survivor of an emotional health crisis. She believes it is vital to provide an anonymous space on the web where people can express everyday worries and deeper concerns, openly and honestly.

In 2006 there were 31 million prescriptions for anti-depressants written in the UK. Furthermore, around one in three GP visits are related to emotional or mental health issues and one in four adults will experience a major depressive episode in their lives.

‘You don’t have to be alone or lonely to suffer from emotional health issues – emotional isolation can occur in the most sociable of people. Regardless of how many friends you have, there are still many things that you cannot talk about freely with them, you fear they may see you differently, that what you are worrying about appears ‘out of character’ to them or that they will not understand’, says Hyatt. ‘Put this all together and we have a meteoric growth in people turning to medicine to seek help or internalising their issues when what they really need is emotional support. At the current rate of increase, anxiety and depression will be the second most disabling condition in the world after heart disease by 2020’.

Big White Wall takes the best of social networking practices – encouraging free expression and engagement with peers – whilst encouraging a clear culture of support. In its first four months it has seen thousands of issues raised from people struggling with grief or relationship breakdown to depression, bulimia and sexual abuse. Big White Wall provides a space for people to resolve everyday anxieties whilst providing a first step to encourage the more troubled to seek professional help offline.

‘We are not naïve about the potential dangers of a site that is explicitly dealing with difficult problems and challenging issues in people’s lives’, comments Hyatt. ‘We want to provide a space that is not only highly accessible, engaging and informative, but one that also encourages peer to peer support. We have found many people struggle to use services or charities that carry a ‘mental health’ label. We provide a vital stepping stone to expert help but one that has the attractions of many other social networks.’

As government and regulatory bodies review social networking, it is hoped that they also embrace the potential of websites such as Big White Wall for early intervention and prevention of the slide into more serious emotional and mental health conditions.

Jenny Hyatt, Founder of Big White Wall, is available for interview

A survey by online emotional health specialist Big White Wall, reveals that 60 per cent of people send Christmas cards out of duty rather than real care.

Further, the survey discovers that two in five people buy gifts for others simply because they know that they will receive one in return.

It seems that underlying the spirit of Christmas is a crushing sense of duty. And, not surprisingly, such focussed obligation only compounds what many see as an already stressful time of year; with almost four in five of those who took part in the Big White Wall survey admitting to feeling stress over the festive season.

Big White Wall Director, Charlotte Vere, comments:

Christmas has become a mass collusion in seasonal duty with a huge knock on effect on stress levels – caused by things such as receiving a card from the person you forgot, the friend that turns up with an unexpected present or housing relatives that no-one else will.

This Christmas, the Big White Wall website is open for people to share the personal cost of their duty – openly, honestly and anonymously - and users of Big White Wall have already started to express how they really feel about Christmas.

One member wrote,

the more we have, the more we want and the more pressure there is to ‘celebrate’ Christmas. The result is that more and more of us just do not look forward to it at all.

The stress of such duty can have a negative impact on emotional health, which in turn leads to physical and mental health problems. This Christmas, Big White Wall encourages everyone to release emotional stress and pressure by sharing their thoughts and feelings at www.bigwhitewall.com.

More on the survey:

Big White Wall, the place for emotional health online, conducted a survey to find out what people really feel about Christmas. The survey was carried out completely anonymously to encourage people to be open and honest about their feelings.

The survey revealed that:

• Over half of people only enjoyed last Christmas ‘in part’ and nearly one in five ‘just got through it and were glad when it was over’
• One in four people feel Christmas has just become a circus of present-giving and eating
• Two thirds of people felt irritated last Christmas and more than a third experienced anger