Tactical Re-appraisals and Digitally Informed Hypotheses About the Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the Internet’s democratizing potential by considering how people diagnosed with bipolar disorder re-appropriate medical perspectives and combine them with personal insights to contribute to the development of new knowledge. Using de Certeau’s theory (1988) of creative tactics in everyday life, it is argued that through their online interactions, people diagnosed move beyond the performance of lay expertise and collectively generate “digitally informed hypotheses” about the effectiveness of treatment for bipolar disorder. Even though the Internet affords individuals diagnosed a voice, it is one which can have a broad epistemic impact only when heard and taken seriously by researchers.