Hi CarolC,

PM me and I'll give you a brief overview of how Mudcatters helped me when I was experiencing deep work-related stress & trauma over the period of about a year. I also foudn that when I was working in a very socially isolating job I could make & keep some wonderful Mudcat & other internet site friendships which made me feel that I was in a social group rather than being totally alone.

A couple of years ago I found a review of a book about two female scientists - one located at the Arctic, and the other at the Antarctic, I think - who met on the 'net and became good friends through e-mail. They didn't meet until years afterwards. They published a lot of their e-mail correspondence. I might be able to find it in a search. I'll let you know.

How long is this project in terms of time & words? It makes a difference to how much research you should do - short project, too much research, too much stuff in your head to analyse, too much stuff to organise & write, not enough time to do it - kapow! CarolC in deep stress state needing lots of Mudcat TLC, CarolC becomes subject of own research (grin).

You also need to narrow your focus considerably if it is only a relatively short project (time/words). Or, you could do a broad overview with less depth if it is short - e.g. a broad categorisation and analysis of the types of personal, psychological, social, emotional, mental, intellectual etc support which we get from the Mudcat.

Helen