What is online psychotherapy treatment?
When suffering from a mental illness, psychotherapy is the treatment of choice, although the ideal treatment depends largely on the type of illness and the patient’s situation. While many patients seek or are advised to go to psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to visit face-to-face, sometimes the circumstances of each person make this direct contact impossible.
However, since the advent of the Internet, people working in the field of psychology have used the potential of the World Wide Web as a tool to enable people who are unable to visit a psychiatrist to get the help they need.
Online psychotherapy allows patients to talk and share their problems at a distance.
Why opt for online psychotherapy treatment?
Psychotherapy has proven to be beneficial for a large number of mental health patients, and its practice is widespread. Sometimes just talking and sharing your problems can take a huge weight off your shoulders, and therapists can provide a comfortable and safe environment to achieve this. However, some people are not in a position to see a professional therapist-this may be due to living in a geographically isolated area, to a job that involves a lot of travel, or for health reasons, whether physical, mental, or both. Many types of reasons can prevent a person from being able to get help. In addition, some patients value their anonymity and prefer not to see a therapist directly.
This is where online psychotherapy comes in. Online psychotherapy allows patients to talk and share their problems from a distance. From a place where they feel comfortable or without having to make a difficult and/or long trip.
What does online psychotherapy consist of?
Online resources, such as live chats, email and video conferencing, are used as a means of communication between therapist and patient, allowing them to talk at a distance. While its effectiveness compared to face-to-face psychotherapy is still being studied, online counseling is nevertheless widely used by both professional psychiatrists and volunteers, such as the Samaritans, who are trying to help people experiencing emotional crises. Although traditionally a call-based organization, the Samaritans have been providing suicide prevention services via email since the mid-1990s.
Did you know.
The birth of online therapy was in 1972, when computers at Stanford and UCLA conducted a simulated psychotherapy session. However, although health care websites appeared in the 1980s, it was only in the mid-1990s that the idea began to take off, with the emergence of fee-based professional services offering online psychotherapy.