Healing At Home: Is Online Therapy Right For You?

​You sit down for your weekly session with your therapist. You take a deep breath and start to check in about your week, go over your between session therapy assignments, and shed some tears and some laughter for an hour. Feeling lighter, you thank your therapist and tell her you’ll see her next week. Then you close your laptop and get up from your sofa to make yourself a sandwich.
 
Wait, what?
 
That’s right. You just saw your therapist while sitting in your living room.

Telemedicine is completely changing how we think about meeting with a clinician. Technology has broken down many of the barriers that can make seeing your medical providers challenging, and online therapy in particular has made seeing a therapist more accessible than ever before.
 
So what exactly is online therapy?
 
Online therapy means that you have a therapist you see primarily or solely through video teleconferencing. In many ways, it is exactly the same as seeing a provider in person. The sessions tend to be the same frequency, the same length, and cover the same range of issues. The only major difference is that, instead of commuting to an office, sitting in a waiting room, then sitting on an office couch for each appointment, you sit on your own couch, or on your bed, or in your office on your lunch break, or just about anywhere else you can find an hour of privacy and a solid internet connection.
 
What are the benefits of online therapy?
 
Online therapy offers a variety of unique benefits. If you live in a rural area you may have difficulty finding a therapist with a specialized focus on what you are working through, or you may know most of the providers in your area personally. If you work a tight schedule, have kids, or juggle a variety of commitments and responsibilities throughout the week, finding time to commute to an appointment can be challenging. Online therapy allows you to connect from the comfort of your own home, so you can overcome the avoidance that can keep you from getting yourself to therapy, and the awkwardness that sometimes goes along with sitting in someone else’s office every week. Lastly, online therapy allows you to ease back into your day after the session, letting the things you discussed marinate in private, rather than having to rapidly switch gears and commute back to home or work.
 
But does  it work as well as regular therapy?
 
Yeah, actually it does. The research coming out on online therapy indicates that it is equivalent to in person therapy in its overall effectiveness, and in many cases preferred by clients because of how easy it makes it to go to regular appointments. Security is not usually an issue, as telemedicine providers should be using a highly encrypted and secure video platform to connect with you (Skype doesn’t cut it!). At the end of the day, online therapy and in person therapy have far more similarities than differences.
 
Is online therapy right for me?
 
If you are interested in working with a therapist online, it’s important to consider a few important factors before you begin.
 
* Do you have a private place to connect with your provider, at least one hour a week? This can be just about anywhere, but it’s important that you feel safe and have a quiet environment for your sessions.

* Does that place have internet? You need internet to connect with your provider! A tablet or large phone with unlimited data can also work, but you might want to test out streaming video on it first to make sure your signal is strong enough in the place you want to connect.
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* Do you feel relatively comfortable with technology? I don’t mean can you write computer code! I just mean, do you feel relatively comfortable surfing the web, changing the settings on your computer’s audio output, installing standard computer updates? You don’t need to be super tech savvy for this, but having basic comfort with your device and the internet in general will help you feel more at ease in your appointments.
 
I dedicate half of my private practice to online therapy, and am happy to discuss whether this would be a good fit for you if you are interested. Please keep in mind that licensed professionals can only see clients in the state(s) they are licensed in (and sometimes in other countries); I currently only provide services to California residents.
 
Technology has removed barriers to getting the care you need. Never let geography, family life, and work schedules get in the way of taking care of yourself. The first step is now just a click away.