Online Therapy: Is it Best for You?
Recently, there is a significant rise in the number of people who are suffering mental stress due to the worsening economic condition that has spread like a pandemic throughout the globe. Many are suffering serious mental breakdown from all of these turmoil going on and there is indeed a need for an immediate help. What do you do if you’re among them and you just don’t have the time or luxury to get an hour of counseling in your local mental health care practitioner’s office?
The answer lies closely with just a touch of a mouse click: Online Psychotherapy. Many are finding this alternative much more convenient and affordable than having to go all the way through the time-tested traditional process. There is also a great deal of anonymity, especially if you don’t want to be caught going your way to your shrink’s office, making you avoid embarrassing questions from friends or colleagues at work.
Being curious on this type of therapy, I’ve scoured the web to search for more info. I’ve found out a news made by Medical News Today that reported on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT, which seems to be efficient when delivered online by a therapist – but, in real-time. This made me think of chatting with your friends using instant messenger tools out there. It is like chatting to a virtual friend who is ready to listen to you ( or maybe, until the timer is up and you need to reload for another hour or two ).
Depression is not a laughing matter and in most cases, a trained professional is needed to make careful analysis or recommendation. Why can’t you just talk to a friend? This can work if you’re feeling just blue for a moment and you need the comfort of a friend. But being clinically depressed is a different thing. You can be a danger to others as well as to yourself, and for this, a professional can help you cope up and guide you on your journey to healing.
Online psychotherapy may be a real challenge to conventions, and many are dreading the rise of fraudsters. Some are not yet convinced on its effectiveness and many will dispute that having a session in real-time gives better results due to the fact that one can evaluate a person better in real-time, especially when they’re working on non-verbal clues. The last thing someone may want is to know that he or she is routed to a call center, that his or her call is on queue, which might make him or her feel simply – ignored. You must have experienced being on hold for the nth times when you have something important to ask or say, and the feeling it gives is always unpleasant, even with the sound of soothing music while you wait.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Therapy?
PROS:
1. Convenience
2. Affordability
3. Anonymity
4. Physical Safety
CONS:
1. Indefinite Results
2. Miscommunication ( through ineffective typed or written messages )
3. Limited Visual Cues ( in case of video chat )
4. Risk of Exposure to Frauds or Malpractice
In the end, when it comes to human relationship, they are not just some shareware you can download in your PC. The internet can give you the speed of access to services you need, but it cannot replace real-time presence. Besides, many are displaying a totally different personality in cyber space, which are quite different from who they really are for real. The multi-sensory experience of traditional therapies are still far from being replicated, and we can only hope to turn into the best, natural solution in fighting off stress from our lives – for good.
A Video on Online Anxiety Therapy:
