Young people, mental health and the Internet

Young people often find it difficult to access mainstream mental-health services partly because of the stigma associated with mental-health problems. One way round this is to use the Internet and a team of researchers from University College Cork surveyed 922 college students, aged between 18 and 24 to find out what they thought about doing this. 72.4% of the participants used the Internet several times a day and 30.8% had previously searched for mental-health information online, mostly for depression. 68% said they would use the Internet for mental-health support if they needed to but 79.4% said they would still prefer face-to-face support.

Horgan, A. and Sweeney, J. - Young students' use of the Internet for mental health, information and support Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 2010. 513), 117-123