Online Therapy vs In Person Therapy
One of the most common questions that comes up for people considering online therapy is whether or not it is as effective as in person therapy. The short answer is yes. Online therapy or online counseling, also called remote counseling or teletherapy, is not an entirely new development. It was being used between university locations in the 1960s. However, with the lower costs of the technology required for live video counseling (most computers today come with the technology built in), online counseling has become accessible to most people. Though online counseling may not be suitable for every client, for those clients for whom it is suitable, it is as effective as in person counseling according to several studies, (Hogue & Rye, 2015; O’Reilly, et al, 2007; Ruskin et al, 2004) The key indicators of a good therapeutic alliance are equivalent to those in face to face interactions (Day & Schneider, 2002; Jenkins-Guarnieri. 2015). In addition, clients report similar satisfaction with the service whether online or in-person (Jenkins-Guarnieri. 2015). If you would like to know more about online counseling, please schedule a free consultation today. (Scroll down for bibliography).
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Sources for “Online Therapy vs In Person Therapy”
Day SX, & Schneider PL. (2002). Psychotherapy using distance technology: A comparison of face-to-face, video, and audio treatment. J Couns Psychol. 2002;49(4):499-503.
Hogue, C.W., & Rye, C.B. (2015). Efficacy and challenges of in-home tele-psychotherapy. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2, 668-669.
Jenkins-Guarnieri MA, Pruitt LD, Luxton DD, & Johnson K. (2015). Patient Perceptions of Telemental Health: Systematic Review of Direct Comparisons to In-Person Psychotherapeutic Treatments. Telemed J E Health. 2015 Aug;21(8):652-60. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2014.0165. Epub 2015 Apr 17.
O'Reilly R, Bishop J, Maddox K, Hutchinson L, Fisman M, & Takhar J. (2007). Is telepsychiatry equivalent to face-to-face psychiatry? Results from a randomized controlled equivalence trial. Psychiatry Serv. 2007;58(6):836-43.
Ruskin PE, Silver-Aylaian M, Kling MA, Reed SA, Bradham DD, Hebel JR, et al. (2004). Treatment outcomes in depression: comparison of remote treatment through telepsychiatry to in-person treatment. The American journal of psychiatry. 2004;161(8):1471-6.
