Online Mental Health Self-Help Is Available and Effective

For those suffering from mental illness, effective online mental health self-help is available. The many self-directed online options provide a great way to reinforce the progress made with your therapist.

Online Self-Help - Accessible and Effective

Six separate studies report positive outcomes when participants used online self-help and face-to-face self-help groups to address their mental illnesses. According to Medscape contributor, Edward L. Knight, Ph.D., CPRP, “The findings on self-help groups for people with serious mental illness consistently show reduced symptoms and substance abuse over time…reductions in crises…improved social competence and social networks; and increased healthy behaviors and perceptions of well-being.”

Why Consider Online Self-Help Groups?

Living with a mental health condition can seem overwhelming at times and having access to online self-help groups with members who have experiences in common with you helps. Members share tips on coping that they and others have found useful. Online self-help groups give you a safe place to talk about your challenges and frustrations. The members will then offer comfort and encouragement. This collaboration with others who understand your plight is critical to the healing process.

Links to online self-help groups:

+supportgroups – This site has online self-help groups for just about any mental health issue or life challenge you can imagine. It’s easy to participate. Just create an account and join the support group that covers your needs.

SMART Recovery® - SMART Recovery online self-help groups focus on addiction recovery. They have groups for a range of addictions, including drugs, alcohol, sexual, gambling, and more.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Support – This site includes self-help groups for patients, family members, and friends with a commitment to learning to cope with OCD in healthy ways.

Anxiety Social Net – Anxiety Social Net is set up like a social network especially for people suffering from anxiety disorder. Within the network, they have online self-help groups that focus on many types of anxiety as well as related disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) – The DBSA organization provides a number of online self-help groups for those with depression and bipolar disorder. It’s peer-led and meetings occur in real time.

Self-Improvement Online Resources

For individual help with a challenging mental health issue, consider the many options available for self-improvement online. You can find self-improvement courses, seminars, and products that cover so many life areas, it’s truly mind-boggling (Get Free Self-Help Books, EBooks and Workbooks).

If you’re dealing with a mental illness, you probably have some days when you need a little extra guidance or encouragement to get you back on track. You can find helpful advice and useful tools for your personal self-improvement online – without leaving home (there are Self-Help for Overcoming Low Self-Esteem options, too).

Links to self-improvement online resources:

HigherAwareness.com – This site provides self-improvement courses and personalized coaching to go with each one. It requires you to register for a membership, which will cost $19 per month. For that price, you have unlimited access to their 18 self-improvement courses and coaching.

101 Online Self Improvement Resources – Popular self-improvement website, Pick the Brain, published this comprehensive list of resources for self-improvement online. It includes resources for general personal growth, personal development, mental stimulation, business and financial success, and educational areas.

Shop For and Read Self-Help Books Online

If you don’t like going to a brick and mortar bookstore, you can shop for and read your self-help books online. You can download most of these in PDF format or right onto your eReading device, such as a Kindle or Nook.

Links to self-help books online:

BookRix – This site offers pages and pages of online self-help books. You can read them online or download them for reading later.

Goodreads – Goodreads, a social network for book lovers, lists over 40,000 popular self-help books. Most, but not all, are available for purchase in both electronic and traditional formats.

Online self-help is here to stay and more resources become available every day so you can take charge of your mental health and live your best life.