THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR COUNSELING THE SUICIDAL INDIVIDUAL: POSSIBILITIES AND DRAWBACKS

The role of the Internet in facilitating and preventing suicide is reviewed. Two online suicide prevention programs are described: SAHAR in Israel and Befrienders worldwide. Examples are provided of crisis intervention by e-mail. Finally, some caveats are presented based on experiences with crisis intervention by telephone. The Internet has emerged as a social arena in which people interact and build social networks via e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, newsgroups, forums, and support groups (Amichai-Hamburger, 2007) to which can now be added blogs and Internet-based networks such as MySpace and Facebook. The use of the Internet for counseling and therapy has grown, and scholars have discussed the issues involved in this enterprise (see Amichai-Hamburger, 2007; Bell, 2007). This article will not address the multitude of uses of e-therapy but will focus only on those uses related to suicide and suicide prevention. There are resources on the Internet for those contemplating suicide but who are seeking help for themselves or for loved ones (www.suicidology.org; www.befrienders.org).1 Befrienders, an international organization devoted to suicide prevention (whose centers are typically called Samaritans) introduced crisis intervention for suicidal individuals by e-mail in 1994. In recent years, informal counseling of suicidal individuals has also utilized Instant Messagin