A while ago, while preparing the conference that led to this book, a public health researcher told me: “Obviously, if everybody who had a health condition went to their doctor, the health system would simply collapse.” This truism really hit the mark as it captured the very notion I was trying to articulate with respect to the future of the Internet as a public health tool: in the aftermath of 9/11, if every New Yorker had gone to their psychologist to vent, or for information and advice, the mental health system would have collapsed. Instead, they turned to a variety of sources of support and information: their doctor, the media, their yoga teacher, their friends...and the Internet. In fact, notwithstanding 9/11, Americans are increasingly turning to the Internet to find health-related information to take better care of themselves and the ones they love. But, the Internet has a lot more to offer than mere information. The Internet offers forums for self-expression. It offers a place for networking with others who share similar concerns. It is also a marketplace where one can access professional help. And, for some of us, the Internet is an object of study as well as a tool for conducting research.

Trauma-related mental disorders are among the most prevalent public health problems on this planet. This book is a testimony to the creativity of a few pioneers who believe the solution to this public health problem includes the Internet. The book is organized into six sections, each addressing the various uses of the Internet in mental health, with a particular emphasis on the issue of traumatic stress.

In Section I (Introduction), John Grohol, a founder of the award-winning PsychCentral (http://psychcentral.com/), offers a historical perspective on how the Internet helped build a mental health social networking community which has radically changed the way people seek information on mental health and find social support. In the same vein, Azy Barak offers an international perspective on the creative ways in which Internet has, since its beginning, provided psychological solace to people affected by mass disasters and tragedies. Celia Boyer and Judith Patterson also describe one solution – the HON code – for what is perhaps the most important pitfall of the Internet: the inconsistent quality of the information and advice that one can find.

Section II addresses how the Internet can foster the creation of virtual social networks that can effectively mitigate the impact of traumatic events. Authors revisit the role the Internet played during and in the aftermath of events such as 9/11 (Spiegel & Butler) and the Haiti earthquake (Herbert & Brunet).

By definition, traumatic events create chaos. This chaos often impedes initiatives to conduct trauma-related research. Section III contains three chapters describing powerful methodological, scientific, and logistical strategies (Schlenger, Litz, & McLean; McLean, Schlenger, & Litz; Ashbaugh, Herbert, Butler, & Brunet) to conducting cost-effective scientific surveys in the aftermath of mass disasters. The fourth chapter (Lewis & Bisson) provides a rare introduction to the health economics of web-based mental health interventions designed to mitigate the impact of trauma.

Section IV presents two very original examples of how the dissemination of information via the Internet is addressing increasingly sophisticated issues. The chapter by Kassam-Adams, Marsac, and Winston describes a site dedicated to parents whose children have been seriously injured (and who may or may not suffer from traumatic stress). The chapter by Josef Ruzek, Director of the Dissemination and Training Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), explores an initiative designed to disseminate information to mental health practitioners on the best practices for the treatment of PTSD and engage them in adopting such practices.

In Section V, we explore the usefulness of online psychological self-evaluation in the aftermath of trauma. Vetter and Henley present a brief, Internet-based early intervention for injured patients who have been admitted to the emergency department and are at-risk for developing PTSD (Mouthaan, Sijibrandij, & Olff).

Section VI reviews the empirical results of a booming area, that of Internet-based psychotherapies (Andersson; Wagner & Maercker), which can take on a surprising number of forms, including virtual reality exposure therapy for the treatment of PTSD (Rothbaum, Josman, & Malcoun). This section closes with a chapter by Jeffrey Barnett that describes the ethical, clinical, and legal challenges related to providing mental health services online.

There is no doubt that, in the near future, the Internet will be increasingly used to conduct primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in the area of traumatic stress in ways that we have yet to imagine. I hope the publication of this book will lead to the adoption of the online tools that already exist by an increasing number of mental health professionals, researchers, and policy planners, and foster further developments of this amazing invention.