I just finished another semester of grad school in counseling psychology. I’m happy to say that I will soon be doing my internships and will be finished by this time next year. I’m very excited about that. It’s been a long road with Joe in medical school then residency and myself in school as well. We’re finally getting to a point where we can enjoy life more and that feels really, really good.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about something that’s drilled into us during the course of grad school. There’s something called a Consent to Treat form, which specifies the rules and regulations of the therapist and gives the patient a clear idea of what will happen during treatment. You usually go over this form and the rules therein during the first session with a patient before you get started. The patient then signs the form to give informed consent. But, that’s never the last time you have to do that. In group therapy you have to review that form in the beginning, in the end or whenever someone might need reminding because of forgetting (which often happens with regard to confidentiality). In individual therapy, it could be when someone either breaks the rules or challenges them to the extent that they need to be reminded that there are rules in place for a reason. The point is that while rules are important when you set initial goals, a review of these rules is often imperative for optimal functioning in the therapeutic setting.

I promise I have a point with regard to this site.

I love to have fun, and anyone who has been out partying with me knows that. I like others to have fun too. This site is a lot of fun for me and it’s a labor of love for Joe and I which just feels good. But, I admit I’m a bit of an idealist. I automatically assume that people who come here will be mature in addition to being fun. However, this is the Internet and I’m occasionally disappointed. I’ve been blogging personally for many years before this blog and realized very early in that I had to have a policy for behavior laid out just in case someone wanted to be insulting, belligerent or even exhibit attention seeking behavior. Thus, I came up with a policies section on my personal blog. Over the years it had changed and I finally got it to where I thought it should be. That very same set of policies was transferred here when we started and I’ve been happy with it. I’m still happy with it, but I believe it is time to review it again so that everyone knows that there are explicit rules here even though every post does not mention them.

Here is the text of the policies section of this blog with some bolded information I think is important to remember…

This blog and all that is written here, unless otherwise noted, is copyrighted to each of the authors individually. If you decide that you must quote us, please give the appropriate credit.

Please feel free to e-mail us with the understanding that any or all of the e-mail content is subject to posting, unless specified otherwise.

Please remember to be respectful of the authors and commenters. This really should not have to be said, but we find it’s often forgotten in the heat of an online dialogue. There are many authors here and we all have varied opinions. Try to view each one of us as individuals who happen to have the same geographic location.

This blog and its commenting system are currently open to all readers. However, with our understanding of the nature of trolls* we are not opposed to banning people from commenting and from the site altogether.

Blog owners/authors set forth the rules that are used on their sites…even if those rules are not posted. Bloggers reserve the right at any time to enforce or even change those rules. At this time, we have yet to ban anyone from commenting on this site, but we reserve the right to do so for continued or grievous attempts to violate this blog’s posting policies.

Look at it this way…this is our hot & spicy home on the Internet. This is where we come to share ourselves, our interests, and our love of hot sauces & spicy fare of all kinds. This is a place where others can share their interests as well, even if their beliefs are contrary to ours. There is a way to do that respectfully. If at any point that exchange becomes disrespectful, we reserve the right to say so. Don’t expect us to always take the high ground if you continue to be abusive, disrespectful, or otherwise hateful just for the sake of doing so.

These policies won’t be an issue for 99% of the people who post comments on this site.

If you have any questions, please let us know via the Contact Us form.

* A troll is someone who purposefully attempts to cause harm to others, be they the author or any other person who posts a comment. They usually stray from the topic and their language is designed to do nothing more than insult the person they target.

Trolls are not necessarily just people who overtly present their insults. Their point is to derail just enough so that they can be accused of doing so, then become combative in nature as a “defense.” That way, they get to express their disdain or disapproval of the author in a way that seems justified.

I’ll add that the last part about trolls is largely unconscious to the trolls. Some of them just want attention, some of them have an innate and subconscious hatred of the writer(s) and some of them just have nothing better to do. Whatever the category, it shouldn’t need to be spelled out that if we ask these people to stop, they should out of respect with no further explanation because of the aforementioned policies. I will actually spell it out if I need to. However, I’m of the opinion, much like directions on shampoo bottles, that some things shouldn’t really need to be THAT specific to know how to behave.

It’s important to note I have not changed the policies at all and this is not an addendum. The policies have remained the same for some time now. I have turned comments off for this post as it is an announcement rather than a discussion. If you have any questions about this, you may email me personally.

Thank you!

Linda