Internet chat offers new approach in mental health

02 Aug 2007

Mental health treatment based on the use of internet chat after in-patient care produced positive results in a controlled trial conducted by researchers at Heildelberg University.

They conclude that modern communication technologies offer novel opportunities for the provision of stepped care for patients with mental disorders.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics investigated the effectiveness of group therapy delivered through an internet chat following inpatient treatment.

The main goal of the program was to reduce the risk of losing the therapeutic benefits achieved during the preceding inpatient treatment. 114 patients participated in one of two parallel groups of 8-10 patients that met with a group therapist in an internet chat room.

The groups met weekly for 12-15 weeks for 90 minutes. Controls were 114 patients who did not participate in the chat groups and were matched by application of propensity score methods.

The main criterion was derived from comprehensive assessments of changes in health status comprising the psychological and physical condition of the patients.

Assessments were conducted at admission, discharge and 12 months after discharge. 12 months after discharge, chat participants showed a substantially lower risk (24.7%) for negative outcome than controls (38.5%).

The researchers, add: “Furthermore, the low dropout rate and the high session attendance supported the expectation that this novel offer met patients' needs, and thus, opens a new avenue for the optimisation of care for patients with mental disorders.”

Reader's Comments

been around for a while now

stressfreedave@hotmail.com

02 Aug 07 09:58

This is not new. There have been websites with forums for people wanting to access some sort of emotional support for some time. I have even heard of colleges/uni's using them for students that were not comfortable with face-to-face mettings.

A simple search on the web finds support groups/forums. Most of these seem to get done by volunteers and sometimes victims if it is something like sexual abuse/rape.

It is one good way of offering support that does not involve long waits and it can be done so that the client/patient does not have to worry so much about others knowing (although there would still be a security risk due to things like viruses, trojans and other spyware programes that could be on their computer).

not the same as web forums

02 Aug 07 10:23

it's not quite the same as chat rooms. This looks like a group-based psychological intervention rather than a chat-room support forum. I think it is to be welcomed. Notwithstanding the security issues, an evidence based needs to be built up for interventions or maintenance of therapy remotely. There's quite good evidence that some people who have CBT (cognitive based therapy) for depression can be well maintained with an occaisional "top-up" after the therapy has ended. Electronic comms could perhaps be used for that in some instances, if not for the entirety of a CBT intervention for some clients. Not sure how psychodynamic oriented therapists would take to it though.