Online shrinks beat the blues

The Internet which has done so much to shrink the world is now showing promise as another kind of shrink – a psychotherapist.

An eight-week web-based programme of online sessions for people suffering from depression, and forums involving others receiving treatment, achieved similar results to face-to-face therapy sessions, according to researchers at the University of South Wales.

People still had contact by email with a human therapist but contact was significantly less than with standard forms of treatment, they report in a paper in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Professor Gavin Andrews, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry, said: "We knew that the internet was successful at treating social phobias and other anxiety disorders but …it was assumed that depression would be more difficult because of the lack of motivation usually associated with the illness.”