Telepsychology

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Online Counseling: The Future of Therapy?

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https://bit.ly/2OLYksI

https://bit.ly/2OLYksI

Thanks to the internet and its infinite apps, we’re able to gratify almost any need in an instant. So much of our day-to-day has become on-demand and platform-based. Curious about someone? Facebook. Hunting for a job? LinkedIn. Need a ride? Uber. Want a date? Tinder. Hungry? Seamless.

But what if you’re looking for therapy?

Telepsychology aims to make counseling easy to access. It simplifies and speeds up the process of finding a therapist. No more going to an office for a weekly appointment. For most platforms, it comes down to a quick sign-up, survey, live chat evaluation, and then via an algorithm, voila! You’re matched with a counselor. Sounds streamlined enough, but inevitably it’s more complex than that. For starters, which platform to choose?

Telepsychology Options At A Glance

Within the past several years, telemedicine has brought with it a wave of new online counseling platforms. These platforms offer a variety of modality options: video conferencing, live chat, audio, and texting. Some charge per session, others offer monthly subscriptions, with varying eligibility for insurance reimbursement. The table below offers a side by side comparison of the most popular recent online counseling services.

 
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Note: The Wirecutter, a New York Times product review company, recently published several informative articles about online counseling [see below for links]. Their team tried several of these services, ultimately choosing AmWell and DrOnDemand as their top two picks. Preliminary research has indicated that video is the preferred modality, likely because it gets as close to an in-person therapeutic interaction as technology allows.

Benefits and Risks

As with any new tool, online counseling comes with a host of positives and negatives.

Pros

  • Highly flexible

  • Eliminates barriers to treatment - ideal for clients who are highly anxious, homebound, disabled, dealing with PTSD e.g. veterans, or living in rural areas

  • Normalizes mental health treatment and decreases stigma 

  • Serves as a great introduction to therapy on the road to longer-term treatment

Cons

  • Hinges on accessibility to / reliability of technology

  • Introduces legal issues (clinicians are geographically bound by their license to practice in a certain state)

  • Brings up ethical issues (client privacy, limitations with crisis intervention)

  • Limitations of technology with regard to establishing an authentic connection

  • May not be ideal for high-risk cases or clients dealing with serious diagnoses

  • Can be more financially driven than care driven - companies compromise services provided to clients, and fail to support / protect clinicians

  • Are often launched by people who come from a tech background, not a mental health background; without enough clinicians on staff, team might not fully grasp the legalities and ethics of HIPAA compliance, geography-based practice limitations, etc.

Teletherapy has already showcased its potential to normalize mental health treatment and to maximize client access to these services. At the same time, its pitfalls are not insignificant and affect both clients and clinicians. For clients in crisis or dealing with severe diagnoses, the digital interface may not provide sufficient support. Depending on the platform, clients are not always required to provide identifying information, making proper crisis intervention very difficult for a therapist to carry out. In this vein, client privacy is an ongoing concern. Platforms are usually HIPAA compliant, text is SSL encrypted, but therapist access to client records and a client’s right to remain entirely anonymous remain gray areas.

Additionally, technology in general creates a certain barrier that may compromise an authentic therapeutic connection. Imagine being in the middle of an intense, emotional video chat with your therapist and all of a sudden the screen freezes or the WiFi cuts out. It’s a tall order to replace the in-person therapeutic relationship; online counseling is doing its best despite the restraints of technology.

The Takeaway on Teletherapy

Therapy doesn’t need to cling to the couch or fear the smartphone’s influence. Mental health treatment has to be able to evolve with the culture. At the same time, online therapy services shouldn’t compromise quality of care, or legal and ethical standards of the field. Teletherapy companies are a delicate combination of revenue-driven business and nuanced, human service. In online counseling's ideal form, protecting practitioners, supporting clients, and honoring the therapeutic process should always come first.

How do you feel about online therapy?

Would you try it? Have you tried it?

Is it the future or just too strange?

Share your thoughts and experiences with us! We’d love to hear from you. 

Leave a comment below.

More Links About Online Counseling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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