Depression is one of the leading health issues rising over every subsequent day in all age groups. But as people now prefer everything online, they are also looking for an online therapist to get mental help. Online therapies are an effective alternative to the in-person therapy sessions where you don't have to visit the therapist’s office on every appointment, disturbing all your essential daily tasks. This article will discuss the effectiveness of online sessions and see why they are gaining much popularity in the last few years. So, let's start.
What Is Online Therapy?
Online therapy is getting a lot of attention these days, and people are now taking it seriously. Online therapy is also called teletherapy or e-counseling, where mental health sessions are provided over the internet. Online therapy can be provided via
- Text messaging
- Phone calls
- Emails
- Video calls
Online Therapy Versus Traditional Therapy
Mode Of Communication
The main difference between online and in-person therapy is the mode of communication. In-person therapy occurs in the therapist’s office, where the therapist and patient have a face-to-face conversation. It helps understand the body language and the nonverbal clues that are only possible with in-person meetings. In contrast, the online sessions lack this opportunity. As the online sessions happen over the phone call or texting sometimes, it gets difficult for the therapist to understand the client’s body language. In online therapies, video calls are much more effective as it is a better alternative to in-person sessions providing the therapist feasibility to understand their clients better.
Convenience
Convenience is one of the best features of the online therapy sessions that overweighs all the other benefits of in-person sessions. In online therapy sessions, you don't have to visit the therapist’s office every time; just connect him via a mobile phone or laptop, depending upon the method of communication you and your therapist find comfortable. Moreover, online therapy provides you an opportunity to pick up a time that fits your schedule. You don't have to necessarily leave your office at odd timings to see the therapist. Moreover, if the therapist is flexible in timings, in that case, he will talk to you at some other time on the day, which is impossible with the in-person sessions where you have to make another appointment if you miss the previous visit. Another benefit of online sessions is the easy accessibility to individuals who have some physical disability or can not travel due to any reason. Often the therapist is not available in all the areas, especially in remote areas, and people have a mental illness for ages due to the therapist’s unavailability. Online therapy has made life much easier by providing access at the comfort of their home. Now anyone, despite their long-distance or physical disability, can have mental help at their preferred timing without any hassle.
Service Fees
If you compare the service fees for the online therapy sessions with in-person therapies; you will find online therapy sessions are sometimes more cost-effective than in-person sessions. In the online therapies, often the service provider offers some monthly promotional subscriptions with a discounted rate. Moreover, you don't have to travel to the therapist's office, so you save on the car fuel as well. Whereas the fees for the in-person visits are fixed, and you have to bear the travel and other expenses.
Effectiveness
It has been observed that online therapy is as effective as in-person sessions in most mental health problems. Even in dealing with anxiety and depression, these online therapies help patients struggling with depression. However, there is some barrier in the therapist and client’s intimacy as they are not in front of each other. But still, the video conferencing has coped up with this situation to a much larger extent where the therapist can get a clue of non-verbal communication by having a watch at the client through the app. And as the client is speaking from his home most of the time, he comfortably explains his problems to the therapist and does not require much time to get comfortable with the surroundings.
Authenticity Of Therapist
It is illegal to practice unless the therapist has the license. The government has a strict follow-up on the therapist offices, but with the online platforms, many non-licensed are also providing their services that have badly impacted the field of practice. For the clients, it is required to do a proper check to whom you will seek mental help. If the person is not having a license or hiding his educational background, you shouldn't go for him. The best feature of online sessions is the access to a large number of therapists from all over the world. So you don't have to visit the non-licensed therapist just because his clinic is near to your place or you don't have any other therapist in your area. You can connect with highly professional and qualified, licensed therapists through these online platforms; who can better help you deal with your psychological problem.
Privacy
Many people often don't visit the therapist because they don't want to express their feelings or open to sharing their problems. It allows them to comfortably express their feelings without the fear of judgment as they are sure that their therapist does not know them in person. And it is one of the significant achievements of online therapies that had played a vital role in dealing with the mental health stigma. Also, these video conferences used for the online therapies are protected and usually, the therapist does not record the meeting. If someone records the meeting you will be notified and you can decide whether you want it to be recorded or not.
Final Words
We have so far discussed the effectiveness of online therapies as compared to in-person therapy sessions. With digitalization, online treatment is getting much more popular, and people are consulting online counselors to a much greater extent. We hope that this article helped you in understanding the effectiveness of online therapies.