The main therapeutic approach in thetreatment of bipolar affective disorder is theadministration of drugs. The effectiveness of this approach can be increased byspecific psychotherapeutic interventions. There is not much knowledge aboutself-help initiatives in this field. Anonymous internet communication may bebeneficial, regardless of the fact that it is non-professional. It offers achance to confide and share symptoms with other patients, to open up for personswith feelings of shame, and to obtain relevant information without having a directcontact with an expert.

Quantitative analysis of web discussionsused by patients with bipolar disorder in Czech language was performed. Usingkey words 'diskuze' (discussion), 'maniodeprese' (manic depression) and'bipolárníporucha' (bipolar disorder), 8 discussions were found, but only 3 ofthem were anonymous and non-professional. Individual discussion entries wereanalyzed for basic categories or subcategories, and these were subsequentlyassessed so thattheir relationships could be better understood.

A total of 436 entries from 3 discussion web pages were analyzed. Subsequently, six categories wereidentified (participant, diagnosis, relationships, communication, topic andtreatment). These were analyzed in terms ofrelationships and patterns.

Czech discussion webpages for people suffering from bipolar disorder are a lively community ofusers supporting each other, that may be characterized as a compact body opento newcomers. They seem to fulfill patients' needs that are not fully met byhealth care services. It also has a 'self-cleaning'ability, effectively dealingwith posts that are inappropriate, provocative, criticizing, aggressive ormeaningless.