In The New York Times, October 21, Deborah Weiner reports a web-based program which “offers six half-hour lessons on managing post-deployment combat stress and symptoms of depression.”

A narrator guides users through the lessons, with each segment focused on a coping strategy, like scheduling activities and breaking down tasks into small steps. Participants answer questions, get homework and check in with peer counselors via instant messaging. Between sessions, they receive text messages, e-mails and phone calls encouraging them to complete assignments.

“Today’s service members often are more comfortable accessing resources online,” Col. Robert W. Saum of the Army, director of the Defense Center for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, wrote in an e-mail. “Web-based, peer-to-peer programs build on the time-honored buddy system that has existed within the military for decades.”

Suggests practical coping strategies:

• avoiding anxiety-producing situations
• increasing pleasurable activities

My therapist says this to me all the time: treat yourself to something fun, nice, pleasurable. A massage. Tennis. A walk in the forest. Playing cards with your friends.

Not everyone, however, is sold on online programs.

“The extent to which Web-based interaction is the same as, better, or worse than face-to-face interactions is the central question in our society now,” said Dr. Joseph Yount, clinical psychologist and coordinator of the P.T.S.D. Clinic at the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago. “Is Vets Prevail the way of the future, or do Web-based interactions lack something so meaningful that only happens when people are together?”

I posted on internet-delivered therapy in the UK which requires writing to communicate with the therapist. There were advantages: “writing requires pausing/reflection/editing” … there is “evidence that writing, as a therapy, helps recovery from trauma.”

Web-based therapy lowers barriers of entry: it is easy, cheap, private … outside the scrutiny of friends and family. Readers of my posts know that I am focused on making that first call for help as easy as possible, and internet delivered services seem to be part of the solution.