The literature on online mental health support groups usually stresses the harmonious side of users’ interactions.
However, differences regarding the experience of the illness might escalate into social conflict. The aim of this study is to
explore acts of conflict resolution in an online Spanish mental health forum for recovery from an eating disorder (ED). Focusing
on a specific long dispute between one regular contributor and several other members, I perform a micro-analysis of the discursive
moves deployed in this polylogue by those who act as informal mediators to mitigate negative emotions, to rephrase participants’
perspectives and to promote relational empathy within the group. The goal of mediation in the forum is to reinstate the social
order of acceptable recovery practices and discourses.
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