Navigating the Mental Health Internet

Lesson 4.2 Mailing Lists

In Mailing lists (also called listservs) postings are e-mailed to all members of the mailing list. To become a member of a mailing list, you must subscribe to the list. This requires sending the mailing list an e-mail. Most mailing lists are very clear about how to subscribe and unsubscribe. Mailing lists can generate anywhere from a few e-mail messages a day to hundreds. With most e-mail programs, it is possible to set up filters to put all mailing list correspondence in a separate mailbox.

To learn more about mailing lists, go to the
Virginia Commonwealth Univerity Frequently Asked Questions on Listservs

Mental Health Mailing Lists

Below are search tools which will enable you to locate mailing lists on mental health topics.
InterPsych Professional Forums
InterPsych is a non-profit organization of mental health professionals committed to disseminating information. It hosts 50 mailing lists with over 10,000 participants. Mental health professionals doing research, scholarship, or clinical work in the area are invited to join these e-mail seminars. A few are open to non-professionals.

Topica Searchable Directory of E-mail Discussion Groups
Topica is the most comprehensive directory of mailing lists-over 90,000 as of this writing. Mailing lists are located by Topica's mailing-list-gathering-robot so new ones are added regularly. However, not all mailing lists for mental health professionals seem to be included. There is a brief description of the list, including a sample message, administrator profiles, and availability of archived messages. 

Dr. Grohol's Mental Health & Psychology Resources Online

John Grohol, PsyD is the webmaster. The site includes both mailing lists and Usenet Groups for professionals and consumers. They are listed in several of the categories such as Medical Disease, Grief and Loss, and Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.