When the mayor of small Midwestern town and his wife decided they needed marriage conselin, they were wary of seeking out a local therapist, for fear of gossip. So without ever leaving their home, they turned to the place where millions of anonymous business and personal transactions take place each days the internet.

The couple’s cybersearch eventually landed them in the All Rivers Online Christian Counseling Center, where they plugged in their credit card number and began engaging in e-mail counseling with a psychologist who billed himself as “Dr. Ralph.” (Almer, 2000, o.A1)

With people increasingly comfortable turning to the World Wide Web to find everything from new CDs to new friends, why not a therapist?

Athough the numbr of people who are being treated today using online therapy is small, it is a growing trend. And as various technologies become more advanced and affordable, including the development of inexpensive, high-quality two-way video links over the Web (something that likely will occur in the next few years), experts predict that incidence of online therapy will grow (Jerome et al, 2000)

Most online therapy occurs primarily, though e-mail. Therapist and patients exchange messages, which are sometimes supplemented with telephone calls. For people like the town mayor and his wife, online therapy can provide the treatmet they need, without rsking their privacy.

Proponents of virtual therapy suggest it will open new avenues of treatment to people with psychological disorders. Those who live in remote areas can receive treatment, as can those who are disabled, concerned with privacy, or too embarrassed to seek out local provides (Advances in Telepshychology/Telehealth, “2000; Jerome et al, 2000)

Despite its potential advantages, e-mail therapy has many critics. Because therapists are unable to see and hear those coming for theraphy, they lack the valuable information provided by clients nonverbal behavior. Furthermore, virtual clients can misrepresent themselves more easily than they could’ in face to face communication. Although the advent to video links will reduce the possibility of such deception, it will remain a probem when patients are physically distant from their therapist. Finally, privacy concerns are real; no one is able to guarantee that highly personal information shared on the web will not be open to computer hackers (Almer, 2000).

An even greater problem for people seeking theraphy online is that there is no procedure for licensing individuals who decide to provide treatment. Anyone can call himself or herself a therapist and start providing therapy – and collecting money from potential patients. In addition, no large – scale research studies have found that online therapy is effective, and research is only now being conducted to answer the question (Sleek, 1995; Grohol, 1997; Rabasca, 2000).

Despite these drawbacks, online therapy in on form or another is likely to become a common option for people seeking treatment for psychological disorder. Whether it becomes routine and is as effective as traditional face to face therapy remains to be seen.

Do you think people are likely to be come more honest when discussing their problems with an online therapist, as compared with an in – person therapist? What kinds of patients do you think are most likely to find online therapy appealing? Why?

source: essentials of understanding psychology by robert s. feldman