Citation

Gilat I, Shahar G. Psychiatry 2007; 70(1): 12-18.

Affiliation

Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid (ERAN), Risk/Resilience Laboratory of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. gilati@netvision.net.il

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Guilford Publications)

DOI

10.1521/psyc.2007.70.1.12

PMID

17492908

Abstract

The telephone and the internet have become popular sources of psychological help in various types of distress, including a suicide crisis. To gain more insight into the unique features of these media, we compared characteristics of calls to three technologically mediated sources of help that are part of the volunteer-based Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid (ERAN): Telephonic hotline (n = 4426), personal chat (n = 373) and an asynchronous online support group (n = 954). Threats of suicide were much more frequent among participants in the asynchronous support group than the telephone and personal chat. These findings encourage further research into suicide-related interpersonal exchanges in asynchronous online support groups.

Language: en