I'm wondering if anyone here has tried online counseling or therapy vs. traditional face-to-face in an office. It would be great to hear from someone that has done both and can give an experienced opinion on one over the other. I'd like to hear what the experience is like and if it is difficult to get to the root of your problems without having a therapist that can not only assess what you have to say, but your body language as well.
Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
I sort of like to see the doctors diploma and certificates/credentials/licence hanging on his wall.
Otherwise - how do you know that whoever you're talking with on the internet isn't a complete quack.
Also - on the internet you can't be sure they are licensed to practice in your state/country.
I have never heard of online counseling. I have been in therapy a few times in a traditional setting and I am in school to become a counselor myself. I would be extremely skeptical of online therapy. Maybe it could work, but given how important the relationship between the client and therapist is, I just can't imagine how it could be effective in that format. Unless you simply cannot find a therapist in your area with whom you could work, I would stick to face-to-face.
unless it's on skype or something like that, i think it would be a total waste of time and money.
khairete
S.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "on line" counseling. If you are talking about using some on line service, I don't know how you would verify their credentials or whether or not the counselor is a good fit with you. If you mean something like Skype or Face Time where there is a direct visual but your aren't in the same room, I think it might work. I have a friend who does a specialized kind of study with a clergy member this way, and it seems to work (although they have had many in-office interactions in the past). But I think the visual is essential - otherwise people would get counseling by phone - you'd have the immediate conversational action, but no ability to judge body language or to assess what the pauses mean (is someone thinking, is she angry, is she sobbing, did she get disconnected?). If you are talking about some sort of "email" back-and-forth, I think it would be a total failure. There's no ability to stop the "monologue" which is what it would be instead of a dialogue, and to ask for more clarification or be able to pick up on something in an immediate way. But without knowing more what you have in mind, I can't say more. I've done face-to-face only and have found it invaluable.
My husband's office does tele-health, which is basically a doc on Skype. Both the doc and the patient can see one another just fine. They've usually met in person, but the doc works out of multiple offices and will use the tele-health network from a different office.
After a few initial sessions with a behav conditioning child therapist/ psychologist, my husband and I opted for follow up sessions via skype. (We wanted to vet and explore parenting strategies). It worked out OK for us. Not really all that different than being face to face and it saved us, and the therapist the bother of getting into his office for the session.
Best,
F. B.
I haven't ever tried therapy online so I can't comment on that.
However, I have tried using doctors online for answering questions - just to see what they would say, and it's a waste of time. They can't offer any real advice or suggestions of course because it's just your history you're giving them. So they make suggestions which are very vague and ultimately tell you to go see one for a real visit.
