Online Therapy versus Traditional Face-to-Face Therapy

Here I talk about e-therapy, but you may prefer coaching. You can learn about the difference between e-therapy and coaching, if you aren’t sure ‘therapy’ is what you want.

Online therapy (also known as e-therapy, cyber-therapy, cyber-counseling and e-Counseling), offers help to people worldwide. It is different from traditional face-to-face therapy in its strengths and weaknesses. Online or telephone therapy is not designed for diagnosing, assessing or treating serious mental health disorders. However, the convenience of telephone and Skype therapy combined with the opportunity to work with a psychologist with special expertise, in another state or even another country (!) enables the client to select the perfect provider for your issues and concerns you want to address.

For many people, e-therapy is a powerful way to get help with many of life’s challenges, but it is not for everybody. Some people are facing situations that are so overwhelming or potentially dangerous that they feel desperate or even suicidal. These situations are best helped by face-to-face professional support.

Online or telephone exchange is not a universal substitute for, nor the same as, face-to-face psychotherapy treatment. In particular, e-therapy does not provide emergency services. Online and telephone exchanges do not provide the necessary information for a professional to reach a meaningful mental health diagnosis, therefore it is important for you to seriously consider the severity of your mental health needs, and to choose the type of help, that is right for you. You wouldn’t expect a diagnosis or treatment from a book or a letter and you shouldn’t expect or accept them from an email exchange. What you can expect is highly-focused assistance, free from the social baggage that often accompanies face-to-face psychotherapy.

If you are currently receiving psychotherapy, please talk to your provider about your desire to participate here before starting e-therapy. I am happy to consult with your psychotherapist about the legitimacy of your concerns about Peak Oil, climate change, and economic hard times, especially if the severity of your symptoms preclude e-therapy.

I am a doctor of psychology, not of medicine. I cannot prescribe or offer advice about medication or physical conditions. All medical questions should be directed toward your medical providers.

What is online therapy by email?

Email therapy is a wonderful way of helping you organize your thoughts in a letter form. Online therapy by email enables you to write an email outlining your situation, your limitations as you see them, and your options as you currently imagine them. There is no ‘appointment time’ and you can take as long as you need to compose your thoughts. You can also reflect on what you’ve written as well until you feel as if you’ve ‘got it right.’ Unlike the spoken word that disappears unless it is recorded, email therapy allows you to collect and assemble your thoughts in order to brainstorm possible solutions. At the end of our work, you will have a sort of road map or story chronicling your own personal emotional history of your Peak Oil journey, which records the challenges you’ve faced in these tough times and the direction you’ve chosen to head toward at this moment in time.

One of the key advantages of email therapy is the discipline of deep thought. Using email, you can carefully consider what’s most important to you and work on your writing to convey these ideas as well as clarify your understanding of my online/phone responses to you. There’s no fluff or ‘small talk.’ There are no awkward silences. It is dense and purposeful.

If you enjoy writing and expressing yourself with words, write an email.

Clients can write or respond to a session at their own pace, which could be either an advantage to you, if you enjoy composing a thoughtful response, or anxiety producing, if you need immediate responses to your emails, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled session.

What is therapy by telephone/cellphone?

Therapy by telephone/cellphone is often used in concert with email or face-to-face therapy. The human voice lends a deeper dimension to the emotional side of your Peak Oil journey. I can ask you about your choice of words, the meaning of a sigh, the amount of worry in your voice, or how easily you laugh at one of my jokes. It gives me another ‘tool in my tool chest’ to learn who you are and what’s important to you.

Telephone therapy is perfect if you prefer to talk on the phone. You may prefer to share your thoughts as they arise, and receive an immediate response from me, or ask for clarification on the spot. You also are willing to schedule a time during the week to keep our ‘appointment.’ While it is twice as costly as email therapy, it is also faster, and it conveys not only your words, (which make up 7% of human communication) but also the nonverbal tone, pauses, and inflection of those words.

Video-Conferencing (Skype, Gmail, etc)

Video-conferencing allows for a modified “face-t0-face” exchange and is one step better than telephone sessions.  While the reception and picture is not always sharp, we can see each other’s expressions and it feels much more like “being there.”  You can also have a video-conferencing as a couple, where one can be stuck at work, while the other is at home, but both can make the “session”!

Benefits of E-Therapy
You may have a variety of reasons for choosing to work online or over the telephone:

Perhaps transportation or childcare is an issue for you, or you work so much outside the home that it is a relief to stay at home instead of leaving for another appointment. 

Age, illness, bad weather conditions or infirmity may make travel difficult.

You prefer to work on your property during the growing season.

Maybe a panic disorder or agoraphobia makes it hard to leave the home or meet new people, but these problems don’t affect you over the internet or telephone.

• Sometimes the issues you need to look at are emotionally taxing and more difficult to talk about in a face-to-face situation. “Talking them out” over the telephone or writing them out in an email may make it easier for you to accomplish this.
• Are you just awkward around people? Feel shy or ashamed of your looks in some way? Hate to meet strangers and open up so personally? Online therapy can make this a much easier process.
• You are looking for a therapist who “gets it” when it comes to the Big 3 E’s: Energy, Environment and Economic Hard Times.

Drawbacks of E-therapy

• You may dislike writing as an avenue for expressing yourself.
• Some folks hate talking on the telephone.
• Others build up trust only in the presence of another person.
• Cellphone batteries can die, computers can crash, viruses can infect. These are all technical difficulties not suffered in face-to-face work.
• Some people like the anonymity of chatrooms or emergency hotlines. If you are fearful of talking candidly to a professional, this isn’t the best medium for you. I want to talk to a real person with a real name, not a handle like “Fancypants.” You know my name and I want to know yours.

I’m Ready to Get Started! Tell me how!!