The American Psychological Association on the Web

The American Psychological Association (APA) embraced the internet in a big way. in 1997 their site was called PsychNETsm, and it had already become one of the premier sites on the net for consumers and for mental health professionals. The 2002 version of the sit eis called "APA Online."  It is full of information, and it is easy to navigate. Where to start? It depends on what you are looking for.

APA members
may want to head right to the Member Services area. You'll need your membership number (from your membership card or from a mailing label) and you may still have a problem getting in. I was unable to at first, and had to email my member number to someone to help them get their member database straightened-out.

When I did get in, I was able to search a subset of PsychINFO, and I was able to see the latest contents and abstracts from selected APA journals.  [Since this review was written almost all APA Journal content has been placed Online for a fee].  Even in 1997 you could search Historic PsychINFO - a subset of the PsychINFO database with articles published between 1887 and 1966.

Mental Health Consumers
may want to start at the new Help Center. The main sections are called Psychology at Work,  The Mind-Body Connection, and Family and Relationships. Each section ahs articles to help people cope with problems in their life. In the Work section, for example, are the articles Working Moms: Happy or Haggard? and Which Traits Predict Job Performance?. Similar excellent articles appear in other sections. The Get the Facts section has good practical information.  Here you can also find articles such as How Therapy Helps People Recover from Depression. Psychology in Daily Life is another excellent section with consumer brochures on various mental health issues.

Consumers and Professionals
can search PsychNETsm to find articles on subjects they are interested in. Both groups of users will also find PsychCrawler useful in finding information. It indexes all of the APA content, as well as content from the National Institute of Mental Health. The front page of the site has links to most of the resources, and mental health professionals who are not APA members can still benefit from professional areas of the site. There are also media releases with information on some of the latest research and discoveries in the world of psychology.

APA's site is a great starting point for exploring psychology or mental health on the net. It is being developed on an ongoing basis, and information is easy to find. Visit the site today, and come back often to see the new additions.

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