Self-help internet message boards for suicidal people

Theoretical background: In clinical circles, the evaluation of risks and/or benefits of internet message boards, in which users discuss their suicidal thoughts, has been found to be very inhomogeneous. The majority opinion is that such message boards are extremely harmful, and in the extreme some people are demanding government measures to close such boards. Method: To face speculative assumptions about the functions of "suicide boards" with empirical evidence, a study of a German message board for suicidal persons was conducted via online questionnaire (N = 164; of those 50% male and 50% female; 88% <= 30 years old). Results: Three user types were identified ("constructively seeking help," "ambivalently seeking help," "unspecifically motivated"), which differ with a high effect strength to a great extent regarding their motivation for visiting such a message board, as well as in clinically relevant effects of their usage of the message board. Conclusions: Overall, the results obtained contradict the assumption that suicide related message boards in general are potentialy harmful.