Support Groups – Modern Phenomenon / Age-Old Concept

When the poet, John Donne, penned the phrase, “No Man is an Island”, it’s unlikely he was positioning himself as an early advocate of support groups. However, indirectly, his idea that human beings do not thrive in isolation is a fundamental premise on which most support groups are based.

Support groups, whose members share a similar characteristic or experience, generally offer advice, fellowship, and information. For addictions researchers, tracking and monitoring the popularity and proliferation of diverse forms of support groups helps them keep pace with trends in addictions. One recent, innovative tool attracting increased interest is search frequency studies. This page contains the quantification and analysis of online searches for the phrase “support groups”, along with related phrases.

Divorce Support Groups – Statistics Support Need

According to a 2002 study by Statistics Canada and a 2005 study by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 38% of marriages in both countries end in divorce. It, therefore, seems logical that the phrases “divorce support groups” and “divorce support group” receive a substantial amount of queries (16,786). Graph 2 below identifies “divorce” as the fourth most commonly used word in support group queries.

Other popular inquiries for support groups included “cancer”, “depression”, “addiction”, “domestic violence” and “eating disorder”. However, none of these queries tops the list. After the general phrases, “support groups” and “support group”, the next most queried phrases are surprisingly “penis support group” and “large penis support group” (23,440 searches). In an interview for Flak magazine, the founder of this online group, Mark Mills, admits the site was started as a joke, but given its popularity, he now feels it provides a legitimate service for the overly-endowed. Regardless, it is evidence to the fact that a provocative idea can be extremely popular among anonymous online users.

Support Groups - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		240,000
support groups	225971
support group	162578
penis support group	12029
large penis support group	11411
cancer support groups	10474
cancer support group	10451
divorce support groups	8848
amyloidosis support groups	8488
divorce support group	7938
anxiety support	6433
depression support groups	5927
loss support groups	5723
anxiety support groups	5375
addiction support groups	5187
domestic violence support group	4966
grief support groups	4953
weight loss support groups	4824
breast cancer support group	4659
support groups columbus ohio	4340
breast cancer support groups	4338
sexual addiction support groups	4216
abuse support	4095
online support groups	4057
eating disorder	3926
eating disorder support	3824
abuse support group	3536
autism support groups	3511
bipolar support groups	3192
bipolar disorder	3025
pcos support group	2928
	0		240,000

Cancer Support Groups – Providing an Invaluable Service

Despite the somewhat questionable nature of some support groups, a great majority of support groups provide an invaluable service to its members, including the large number of cancer support groups in existence. “Cancer support groups” and “cancer support group” are the sixth and seventh most commonly searched word combinations in Graph 1. Breast and prostate cancer support groups also figure prominently in the graphs.

One surprising search is “amyloidosis support groups” with 8,488 queries. This obscure group of diseases occurs when one or more of the organ systems in the body begin to accumulate deposits of abnormal proteins.

Support Groups Market Research - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in support groups searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 support groups exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		240,000
groups	226297
group	166486
cancer	22449
divorce	17964
disorder	14600
penis	12590
large	11427
online	10892
depression	9790
anxiety	9734
bipolar	9521
loss	9270
breast	9112
amyloidosis	8491
weight	7967
domestic	7825
grief	7339
women	7055
violence	6711
autism	6591
hiv	6134
ohio	5854
addiction	5848
sexual	5662
abuse	4956
fibromyalgia	4812
columbus	4701
eating	4581
county	4578
parent	4525
diabetes	4450
mental	4351
syndrome	4076
single	3853
prostate	3847
christian	3654
health	3574
suicide	3463
smoking	3428
family	3327
bypass	3241
gastric	3226
military	3174
pcos	2947
how	2869
disease	2825
parental	2762
survivor	2742
social	2665
polar	2653
free	2617
parents	2611
emotional	2604
florida	2600
start	2498
personality	2489
widow	2342
new	2288
ms	2177
adhd	2173
teen	2162
surgery	2108
infertility	2106
children	2093
starting	2069
bereavement	2050
womens	2037
stroke	2034
injury	1932
borderline	1903
adoption	1900
local	1865
aspergers	1850
texas	1790
san	1740
kidney	1720
arthritis	1611
people	1608
oregon	1605
quit	1562
palsy	1553
michigan	1538
cerebral	1530
candida	1507
arizona	1502
stop	1490
caregiver	1468
celiac	1442
pa	1441
fl	1432
liver	1430
systems	1429
multiple	1420
families	1415
lupus	1415
homeschool	1401
alzheimer	1399
las	1396
vegas	1386
diabetic	1360
	0		240,000

Addictions Research Takes an Innovative Turn Near Montreal, Quebec

Through the generous sponsorship of Clear Haven Center, located just outside Montreal, Canada, addictions research has now taken an innovative step into online investigations. Search frequency studies, such as this one on support group inquiries, offer insight into the online habits of Internet users and provides information on trends and developments in diverse forms of addictions.

Support Groups - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	1,000		2900
parent support groups	2789
health support groups	2779
parental support groups	2748
hiv support groups	2746
mental health support groups	2724
women support group	2713
group support	2696
fibromyalgia support group	2671
weight loss support group	2663
anxiety disorder	2605
anxiety disorder support	2603
survivor support group	2578
support groups for hiv	2564
suicide survivor support group	2559
diabetes support groups	2550
personality disorder	2461
eating disorder support group	2333
bipolar disorder support	2269
bipolar disorder support group	2239
emotional abuse	2198
emotional abuse support group	2192
social anxiety	2181
bipolar support group	2150
fibromyalgia support groups	2089
starting a support group	2034
prostate cancer support group	1981
grief support group	1939
online support group	1936
family support groups	1924
smoking support group	1924
military support groups	1918
support group for women	1899
borderline personality disorder	1866
anxiety disorder support group	1854
womens support groups	1849
borderline personality disorder support	1848
prostate cancer support groups	1834
diabetes support group	1824
local support groups	1754
gastric bypass support group	1723
support groups for autism	1657
start a support group	1630
domestic violence support groups	1586
stroke support groups	1576
quit smoking	1561
quit smoking support	1560
ms support groups	1536
christian support groups	1527
eating disorder support groups	1491
depression support group	1490
disease support groups	1487
parent support group	1486
stop smoking	1484
stop smoking support	1480
stop smoking support group	1466
arthritis support groups	1438
social anxiety support	1425
infertility support groups	1296
widow support group	1248
smoking support groups	1241
adoption support groups	1220
bereavement support groups	1201
adhd support groups	1169
family support group	1169
domestic abuse	1118
quit smoking support groups	1112
identity disorder	1111
bulimia support group	1111
dissociative identity disorder	1105
dissociative identity disorder support	1105
	1,000		2900