[Riker]

I think the therapy online idea is great. In addition to the reasons mentioned in the article, another benefit is people tend to be more honest when they aren't dealing with people face to face. It would allow patients to open up more quickly and to open up more in general. Instead of building rapport with the patient for the first few sessions, you can delve right into what you need to talk about.

For the forum being therapeutic, many people feel a lot better when they can talk about things that bother them. By talking to someone it helps to relieve stress. Also the person you are talking to may be able to give you a solution to your problem that you don't see; because they are outside of the situation and can give you a perspective of the problem that you don't see at the time. I'm not saying that talking to random people or even friends is always the answer, but for little things it really helps out. For bigger issues such as depression, friends are not the answer but a shrink can help out there.