What is Online Therapy And How It Works
With the importance of good mental health at the forefront of our minds, therapy for mental health conditions is now more popular than ever. Therapy ranges from traditional in-office psychotherapy to experiential therapy for families as seen at Decade2Connect, where the emphasis is on supporting the whole family system, including parents and siblings.
With lives now busier than ever, people are increasingly turning to the Internet to benefit from this help and support. E-therapy offers almost all the benefits of conventional one-on-one counseling offers. People find it convenient, time-saving, and widely available when it comes to fighting anxiety, depression, or stress.
Technology evolves, and so do practices. Discover what is online-therapy is and how it works!
What is Online Therapy?
E-Therapy entails a virtual interaction between a client and therapist. It’s psychological support done over the Internet. This can include email, chats or text messaging, virtual reality technology, video conferencing, or a combination of the above.
E-therapy involves a certified mental health professional, addressing a precise, already established disorder. Also known as teletherapy or telepsychology, e-therapy has been known to help people overcome several challenges, including:
- post-traumatic stress disorder;
- depression;
- obsessive-compulsive disorder;
- anxiety;
- postnatal depression;
- panic disorder.
How E-Therapy Works In 2021
E-therapy doesn’t entail public forums, blogs, or group emails. A therapist gets into an ongoing counseling relationship with the client through synchronous or asynchronous modes of communication or a combination of both.
- Synchronous — taking place at the same time
- Asynchronous — happening with back and forth over some time
The first step in identifying the right kind of e-therapy is deciding whether one wants to be guided or unguided therapy. Guided therapy means that a counselor would support the client with spelled out cognitive-behavioral interventions, while unguided e-therapy is more of a self-help therapy with minimal to zero therapist support.
Take time before embarking on an e-therapy program so as to get a package that suits your needs.
How To Find an e-Therapist?
There are lots of popular e-therapist service providers, such as BetterHelp, but the Internet is packed with e-therapy service providers. This list is not conclusive, but it’s a good introduction to some reliable online therapists.
- Talk space. They offer e-therapy services through asynchronous text, video, and voice messaging. You may apply here to get into their program.
- Breakthrough. They use video conferencing modality to help their clients. You can start your recovery journey with Breakthrough at any time.
- American Well. A video conferencing teletherapist. Apply to join the American Well therapy team now.
- BetterHelp. They discharge their services to clients through asynchronous messaging, live chat, live phone, and video conferencing. You may enroll for BetterHelp online.
- Lantern. After joining this team for an e-therapy program, you will get online help through online modules, asynchronous messaging, and live phone calls.
- 7 Cups of Tea. They offer asynchronous messaging in helping their clients with their clients. Join their team for e-therapist services.
One should tread carefully, however, bearing in mind that online mental care is not for every patient or practitioner. Certainly, clients with more serious issues require serious treatment as opposed to online therapy.
Similarly, some practitioners find some online modalities difficult, or they make them less effective altogether.
Costs and Other Considerations 
There are some online therapy programs that offer completely free services. These include:
- The BRAVE Program;
- eCentreClinic;
- Mental Health Online, and others.
Other platforms offer e-therapy services after parting with a fee. As well, you will need to invest in devices, technology, and data that allow you to properly participate in your e-therapy. Another important consideration to make before embarking on an e-therapist is the qualifications of your therapist.
Ensure that they have adequate qualifications before enrolling in their programs. As the demand for e-therapy services increases, several issues face the industry. One of the main issues is the loss of confidentiality.
Given that the process is purely an online interaction, there has been a growing concern over the client’s privacy and confidentiality. Make sure to create strong passwords for your e-therapy accounts and that you have strong firewall protection.
You may also make use of form encryption technology to bar people from reading your emails.
Pros and Cons of e-Therapy
We can sum up what we know about e-therapy into pros and cons. Although e-therapy may not be everyone’s cup of tea, with the advancement and use of technology, we can undoubtedly conclude that e-therapy practice is here to stay.
Pros
- It’s administered by a licensed and trained professional;
- It’s cost-effective in comparison with the conventional face-to-face therapy;
- It’s time-saving. There’s no need to travel to see a therapist;
- E-therapy involves online communication, such as emails. This ensures that there is ample evidence supporting its efficacy;
- Some people find it easy to reveal some information online unlike during face-to-face therapy meetings;
- You may sign up with nicknames to conceal your real name. The fear of exposure is therefore taken care of;
- The costs of e-therapy services are lower compared to conventional therapy sessions.
Cons
- While this practice is becoming increasingly popular, it’s still limited to those with access to computers and the Internet. Also, not all folks can use internet technology with proficiency.
- Lack of geographical limitation may expose practitioners to over messaging.
- Typed messages will certainly carry errors, typos, and sometimes poor grammar. This may bring about miscommunication, which can render the practice less valid.
- Without having one on one session would mean the practitioner misses the client’s body language, which informs therapists about the depth of their clients’ condition.
- There are lots of ethical issues around data leakage, confidentiality, informed consent, and others.
- It’s hard to establish therapeutic relations without face-to-face meetings.
Enroll For E-Therapy
Overall, understanding what is online-therapy and knowing that e-therapy is affordable, accessible, and convenient hence very ideal for people with mental disorders. Despite some ethical issues around it, the practice has been tried and termed to be able to deliver quantifiable results in handling issues like depression and anxiety disorders.
As therapists and academics seek to overcome some shortcomings, e-therapy is genuinely helpful in addressing mental disorders. Now you know what online therapy is. Still, as more and more research is done, we hope that the practice will significantly evolve.
Get started with your mental health journey at https://www.betterhelp.com/
