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Online therapy is for people who would prefer an alternative to traditional face-to-face therapy in a professional's office. It's effective, private, secure and affordable. It's conducted by skilled, qualified, ethical professionals. For some people, it's the only way they can get help from a professional therapist. It has also been found to be more effective in certain situations.
An online therapist is a professional psychologist who offers his or her services via the Internet. These are credentialed mental health professionals, who are certified, registered and/or licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, and other officially-credentialed professionals with appropriate education, training and experience in the art and science of psychotherapy.
Online therapy directly addresses a major problem uncovered by the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health (1999), which stated that while one American in 5 has a diagnosable psychological problem, the majority of these don't seek traditional face-to-face treatment:
"Despite the efficacy of treatment options and the many possible ways of obtaining a treatment of choice, nearly half of all Americans who have a severe mental illness do not seek treatment. Most often, reluctance to seek care is an unfortunate outcome of very real barriers. Foremost among these is the stigma that many in our society attach to mental illness and to people who have a mental illness."
"About one in 5 Americans experiences a mental disorder in the course of a year. About 10 percent of the U.S. adult population uses mental health services in the health sector in any year, with another 5 percent seeking such services from social service agencies, schools, religious, or self-help groups. Yet critical gaps exist between those who need service and those who receive service.
"Our direct experience among a group of diversely trained mental health professionals, all with experience offline as well as online, suggests that there is even more potential than we had imagined for creative and therapeutic uses of Internet-facilitated communication."
From the United States Department of Health & Human Services - June 17, 2002 - "Each year, an estimated 44 million Americans experience diagnosable mental disorders. Such disorders can interfere with people's normal daily activities, from work and school to sleeping and caring for oneself and others. Only about one in four affected adults and one in five children and adolescents in need of mental health services receives care."
Sometimes the mental health industry and managed care organizations make it difficult for people to get the care they need, so many people are turning to the Internet for online therapy, as an alternative to traditional methods…people with special needs -- the handicapped, the deaf, the elderly, etc. -- or in remote locations, or with busy schedules, or just find it more comfortable getting therapy in the comfort of their own home.
The International Society for Mental Health Online www.ismho.org has written a report based on a 3-year study of online therapy, called "Myths and Realities of Online Clinical Work," comparing traditional therapy with online therapy. In it, several myths are debunked, including the notion that online therapy is impossible:
"The evidence we have seen regarding therapeutic online relationships suggests that clients have reported self-perception of increased autonomy, improvement in decision-making and interpersonal relationships, and more taking of responsibility for self-help and interpersonal engagement…
"There are numerous examples of other particular types of clients who benefit from having access to mental health services via the Internet. The hearing-disabled, celebrities, business travelers, and people who are shy and introverted, or concerned about stigma, or socially phobic, also might find unique advantages to seeking therapeutic activities, self-help materials, and a diversity of mental health professionals, all easily accessible online…
"Online clinical work is not only possible, but offers a unique 'elasticity of communication' that includes flexibility of location and of time, varying levels of synchronicity, and flexibility to employ various online channels of contact. Online therapy has shattered three of the basic premises of therapeutic interaction, which is that it must always, by definition, be based on visible, face-to-face contact; talking; synchronous ("real time") interaction…"
The second myth is that online therapy consists almost exclusively of e-mail exchanges. The truth is that most online therapy also uses the phone, and chat/instant messaging. "For some clients, combining different communication modalities may prove to be a very synergistic strategy. People express themselves differently when communicating with voice, text, and visuals. Unique aspects of identity and self emerge in those different modalities. Moving from one modality to another sometimes proves to be a very important event in the therapy. For these reasons, clinicians may design treatment plans involving combinations of different channels of communication or transitions between different channels…"
The third myth is that text-only communication is inadequate to convey the richness of human experience. "Why do people continue to argue that words alone cannot convey the breadth of human experience? The whole body of human literature from Homer to hip-hop renders this frequently stated myth absurd. It is widely believed that Shakespeare saw as deeply into the human heart as Freud…
"Why, then, is it so hard to believe that a client cannot be emotionally authentic and a therapist empathic and insightful in text? Our experience as online clinicians, as well as our personal experience with relationships on the Internet, demonstrates that some individuals are more honest, more uninhibited, and more expressive in writing than face-to-face."
Another myth is that it's not possible for a person with a serious disorder to receive effective online therapy. "Ongoing clinical experience online reveals many instances in which avoiding the addressing of serious issues is unnecessary at best, and at worst an ethical failure to act in the client's best interests. Depressed clients (for example) may lack the determination to make and keep a face-to-face appointment with a clinical professional, yet seize a moment of willingness to reach out by clicking for online help…
"An advantage of online work with severely disturbed clients is that clients can choose to use emails, chat scripts, and other online exchanges (that can be saved) to rehearse, review, and reinforce therapeutic messages in a way that can be grounding, affirming, and increase reality testing. Also, the therapist's empathic words can function as a transitional object that can be internalized over time at the client's pace." I thought we were not saving anything?
And finally, the myth that traditional therapists cannot make the transition to online therapy without major adjustment. "Offerings for formalized training are now beginning to appear in university settings across the globe. There are several courses offering training in Internet skills as well as online counseling skills, in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere, while counseling via the Internet is an increasingly popular research topic for graduate students."
In summary:
- Online therapy is gaining in popularity, because it's incorporating the better elements of traditional therapy, and adding convenience, flexibility, anonymity, security, 3 methods of communicating -- so that more people needing therapy have easier access to it.
- Most people who have received online therapy have demonstrated an improved level of responsibility, in terms of self-help and taking control of their situations, are better able to make decisions, and have improved interpersonal relationships.
- The convenience of the Internet allows easier access of therapy to people with busy schedules, people who travel, people who are shy and introverted, or concerned about stigma, or are socially phobic, or disabled, or live in remote areas.
- Online therapy also offers the convenience of flexible time, any location, and different methods of communication: phone, email, chat/messaging.
- Some people who try all 3 methods of communicating find they prefer expressing themselves using words in an email or chat/messaging, even more-so than talking on the phone; they also like the fact that they have a written record of their communication, and can refer back to it in the future; some discover that in typing the words, they can be more openly honest and freely expressive.
- Many people with serious disorders seem to prefer online therapy over face-to-face sessions, for several reasons… including being able to plan or rehearse their message, their expression, the words they use to convey themselves, by typing them on a computer screen - and being able to remain in the comfort of their home, without needing to prepare for and make the trip to the therapist's office.
- Therapists everywhere are now embracing the reality that online therapy is viable, useful, and necessary in an ever-changing world that relies more and more on the Internet.
MindMD therapists are carefully selected for their academic background, training, certification, skills, character, and reputation -- their relationships with clients. They have experience in counseling. They listen well, with empathy and compassion, imparting wisdom in advice, without judging their client.
Every day thousands of people go online for therapy, and are being profoundly helped by professional therapists -- because Internet therapy is convenient, time-efficient, private, secure, effective.
As well, in the case of MindMD online therapy is available in 3 modes of communication, and is affordable.
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