Internet-Based Psychiatric Interventions: Applications for Rural Veterans at Risk for Suicide

The Internet is increasingly used to host interventions to treat depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse. It is also used to deliver suicide prevention interventions and has particular potential for reaching groups facing distance barriers to healthcare or who are socially isolated, factors which can increase risk for suicide. Veterans with mental health problems living in rural areas pose particular access challenges for Veterans Health Affairs (VHA), the federal agency charged with providing their healthcare. Rural Veterans can easily become isolated from mental healthcare providers. Telemedicine provides some access but requires knowledge of its operation by the user as well as the proper equipment and venue. VHA recently launched an Internet crisis chat service to help address this issue. In this paper we review the field of Internet-based psychiatric interventions and discuss the potential of online applications to deliver suicide prevention for rural Veterans.