Research has found that online therapy can be effective in treating anxiety, depression and trauma. There is no difference in patient satisfaction depending on whether the therapy is online or in person, and for either of the two methods of receiving therapy, the results are better as a person attends more sessions. Online therapy can be an effective and convenient way to access mental health services. But that doesn't mean it's right for everyone.
Whether or not online therapy is right for you depends on your condition and the severity of your symptoms. While online therapy is a much newer form of therapy, current evidence suggests that for many people it can be as effective as face-to-face therapy. Talking from the safety of your own home can even make it easier for you to open up about your problems. Online therapy also allows you to communicate with a qualified specialist from anywhere in the world, avoiding the expenses, travel time and the inconvenience of having to meet in person.
Therapists can offer virtual options directly through their personal practice. Online platforms also provide opportunities for people to connect with therapists within their networks. Virtual therapy seems as effective as face-to-face therapy in addressing mental health needs. Online therapy is the provision of professional mental health counseling over the Internet, usually through live video chat, messaging app, email or by phone.
In fact, people often tell me that their online experience has been more satisfying than their previous in-person therapy. People who are unable to leave home for various reasons, such as physical or mental illness, may find online therapy as a useful alternative to traditional face-to-face psychotherapy settings. If you have reliable access to the Internet, online therapy gives you relatively quick and easy access to a treatment that would otherwise not have been available to you. To address the emergency, online counseling interventions have increased, but no study has evaluated the effectiveness of online university counseling during the pandemic period and no study has compared it to face-to-face counseling.
The duration of the online CBT sessions was between 8 and 15 weeks, which was considered a short period of time in therapy. The drawbacks of online therapy include ambient noise (especially since many therapists and clients are currently attending sessions from home), technological problems, and lack of non-verbal communication. We examined the effectiveness of the online counseling intervention in students of the online counseling group on psychopathological problems and the overall level of satisfaction with life in T0 and T1 (see Table. Finally, as a consumer, in some cases it can be difficult to know if an online therapy service is credible, reliable or safe to use.
Unlike face-to-face therapy, online therapy allows you to connect with a licensed therapist or counselor using any device that has an Internet connection, such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Online and in-person therapy options allow more people to access mental health care than ever before. Confidentiality is as important in online therapy as it is in more traditional forms of treatment administration. Any of these methods can help reduce the cost of online therapy and make it as affordable as it is convenient.
Several studies from around the world, including those from Northwestern University in the United States and the University of Leipzig in Germany (both in 2011) suggest that online therapy is as effective as face-to-face work for clients, especially in the long term. Hosted by editor-in-chief and therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares the pros and cons of online therapy. .
