Online Therapy: a lifeboat during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed several restrictions globally. Businesses and entire industries experienced a necessary transition into the digital ecosystem. The health sector was evidently seriously impacted, including psychotherapy as well.

An involuntary mass transition to online therapy was documented during Covid-19 times, which can be considered as a paradigm shift in the field of therapy, according to this article.

Online therapy: the practice of therapy via text, audio phone calls, video conferencing, and emails.

Terms used interchangeably: teletherapy or e-therapy.

Even though online therapy was available before the pandemic, there was a significant surge of teletherapy options.

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Given that people wanting to take care of their mental health had no other option to do so, e-therapy was the way to go.

Main Affordances

The main affordances of online therapy can be attributed to the affordances provided by the developments in the fields of Information and Communication Technologies. Thanks to the technological convergence of the camera, microphone, laptop or even mobile phone, online therapy is now:

-Accessible from anywhere around the world (including remote locations)

-More affordable than traditional therapy

-Accessible for People With Physical Limitations or disabilities

-Has more options (therapists to choose from, mode of therapy)

-Provides flexible time scheduling

The main concerns around the digital delivery

> From the therapists’ perspective:

Many professionals dealt with issues such as:

• Emotional and personal connection with patients; reading emotions as well as expressing empathy were challenging in the digital context of video conferencing. Body language or non-verbal cues can be overlooked.

• Therapists’ boundaries; professionals had to set boundaries around their professional space,

• Privacy and confidentiality concerns; many patients had to do sessions in their private homes. Living in a crowded household during lockdowns was a challenge for finding space to talk about personal subjects. A common example was people doing therapy in parked cars or bathrooms.

• Patients and even therapists getting distracted during sessions

> Dealing With Digital Complications:

Despite the fact that e-therapy is more accessible, it also harbours complications for people with limited or no access to digital technologies as well as for people who are digitally illiterate or not proficient with the use of technology.

So, is online therapy as effective as therapy in person:

Online therapy is undoubtedly different from face to face therapy sessions. It faced criticism and many scientists doubted its effectiveness. However, according to recent studies, e-therapy was found to be about just as effective as therapy sessions in person.

This meta-analytic study of teletherapy and in-person practices indicated that the therapeutic methods used in both means had similar therapeutic outcomes.

Therefore, had it not been for online therapy, people’s mental health would have been extremely worsened during Covid. As this article suggests, studies on U.S. adults showed an alarming 4-times higher rate of anxiety and depression in 2021 compared to 2019.

Trigger Warning: Video from BetterHelp, online business which provides e-therapy services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Ib6SmpIFQ

How much higher would these rates be, were it not for e-therapy?