Online Counseling
The Internet has revealed itself as a mediator between
therapists and clients as online counseling websites surface all
over the web. Online counseling, sometimes called E-therapy or
cyber-counseling, is when a professional offers emotional
support and advice over the Internet. Possible mediums of
communication include e-mail, instant messenger, or Internet
phone.
Prior to the popularization of the Internet and the World Wide
Web, on-line self-help groups existed in the 1980's in the form
of computer bulletin boards systems (BBS). The success of the
aforementioned are thought to be the precursors to modern online
counseling. The earliest known organized service to provide
mental health advice online was "Ask Uncle Ezra," a free service
(to this day) offered to students of Cornell University in
Ithaca, NY.
Advocates of contemporary online counseling claim it is
effective when traditional means of counseling are unavailable,
i.e. one lives in a remote location or has financial restraints
and issues. For some people, the anonymous and private reality
of online counseling is very appealing. A benefit of online
counseling for the counselor includes no office space to rent
and email relations that allow a convenient response time.
Online counselors agree E-therapy is not for people who exist in
a state of crisis and further, one must be comfortable writing
and expressing their emotions with the written word. Some people
who have tried e-therapy say it's a little like keeping a
journal. You can write at length, and explore your thoughts and
feelings. Online counseling costs, on average, about $40 per
session.
Critics of online counseling argue that it will never replace
traditional, face-to-face relationships. These critics state
that online counseling does not afford a therapist the ability
to interpret their clients' body language, facial cues, and tone
of voice-since all of these aspects are absent in an online
counseling session. Online counseling, some protest, lacks the
integrity of the relationship formed between a client and
therapist. Additionally, psychotherapy across state lines
becomes a grey area in regards to state licensure. In Minnesota,
for example, the license restricts therapists to business
conducted only in Minnesota. The majority of liability insurance
companies will cover online work as long as it is conducted
within the bounds of the psychologist's license. Thus far, there
have been no legal challenges.
Because online counseling is a relatively new form of therapy,
regulations have yet to be established. The International
Society for Mental Health Online (http://www.ismho.org/) has
published ethical guidelines to assist professionals in the
development of ethical e-counseling practices.
The official stance by the psychotherapy community is still in
question in regards to the efficacy or non-efficacy of online
counseling.
"Studies investigating the long-term effectiveness of e-therapy
for the treatment of specific disorders or conditions are
currently lacking. As a relatively new treatment modality,
e-therapy has not yet progressed to the status of an empirically
validated therapeutic medium. There is a need for additional
research into the risks and benefits associated with e-therapy
in the treatment of various conditions."
Excerpted from The American Psychiatric Association
(http://www.psych.org)
The most popular reason for online counseling is, for the
therapist and the client, the convenience. According to the
Surgeon General's report on Mental Health (1999), one in five
Americans has a diagnosable psychological problem while nearly
two-thirds of them never seek treatment. For those people that
are too busy, or who may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable
seeing a therapist or marriage counselor,
online counseling offers a variation on the traditional scope of
counseling.