E-Therapy: Fraudulent or For Real?
E-therapy, cyber-counseling, virtual counseling and online therapy are all terms for internet counseling. E-mail exchanges are utilized in this therapeutic modality to help empower people's lives. While telephone sessions may play a role in the process, the internet provides the primary infrastructure to support a client - therapist relationship which fosters growth and can dramatically increase the client's quality of life.
Pros: Online counseling has a liberating effect. People feel safer, and can write about their thoughts, feelings and issues freely. This often allows them to get to the root of problems more quickly than in traditional face-to-face therapy.
The inherent time delay in e-mail exchanges provides a rich space for clients to process their thoughts, feelings and decisions in their lives.
Cyber-counseling is tremendously convenient. Clients are able to write wherever they are most comfortable, 24/7. There is no need to wait for normal "office hours" to send messages, and they are free to set their own pace.
Getting out of the house to a face-to-face counseling session can sometimes be daunting. Parents of infants and small children have day care to contend with, and other people may find that certain emotional and physical conditions make travel difficult. Even if there are no professional counselors in the area, an online counselor can be available to help right away.
Since online counseling consists of a series of email exchanges, the client and counselor both have permanent records of their "sessions." These saved records give both counselor and client an opportunity to review and evaluate their work together.
Online counseling is less expensive than traditional alternatives. There is no need for gas or travel, and people only pay for the time it takes their therapist to read their communications and write replies.
Cons: Therapists are unable to see their client during e-mail exchanges, and can miss certain physical expressions that would allow an easier understanding of a client's feelings. Misunderstandings are possible. Therefore, e-counseling can at times prove more challenging for the counselor.
E-therapy clients need to be able to write well enough to express their feelings and thoughts via e-mail.
E-counseling isn't for everyone. People with severe emotional difficulties, who are currently in crisis, those who are under the age of 18 or who are suicidal should seek a more traditional counseling environment.
E-counselors are unable to give formal diagnoses to their clients.
Online counseling has only been done for a few years. It is truly pioneering work, and a bit experimental in nature.
Technology certainly supports this flexible therapeutic modality, allowing cyber-counseling to be a creative tool to provide convenient, affordable, competent therapy. E-therapy should not to be avoided simply because it veers from the traditional mold any more than it should be embraced because of its novelty. The quality of a therapist's training and experience, as well as the goodness of fit between counselor and client are ultimately more important than the setting in which the therapy takes place. Perhaps you will find virtual therapy worth exploring to see if it is right for you.
