What is remote psychological help?
Online psychotherapy is a form of psychological support using a remote communication tool, e.g. Skype, to protect mental health. This wording does not refer to any particular therapeutic technique, but a form of communication. In contrast to classical psychotherapy, the therapist and the patient are not in the same room, but are in any remote locations and communicate using the Internet. Because of the advantages of remote therapy. more and more patients are choosing to use an online psychologist.
Who is online therapy for?
Online psychotherapy is especially recommended if you travel frequently, stay permanently or temporarily abroad, you want to avoid wasting time on commuting and standing in traffic jams, in your town, there is no specialist psychotherapeutic office, a good psychotherapist you trust in another city or even in the second part of the country. It is also recommended if during the session you prefer to stay in a safe place you know, which is probably your home. This form of help will also be appreciated by people who feel social phobias, for whom a direct meeting with a psychotherapist would be too much of a challenge.
Advantages of distance psychological consultation
Relative to classic in-office psychotherapy, the online psychotherapist service has the following advantages, among others:
- Save time due to no travel (no need to leave the house)
- Saving money due to no travel
- Great flexibility in choosing the dates of the sessions
- High availability, especially for smaller towns where there are no specialists
- Unlimited territorial availability
- Possibility of using while abroad
- Possibility of using during business or holiday trips
- Conducting sessions at your own home in comfortable conditions
- High sense of security
- Effective and accessible mental health protection
- A particularly recommended form of therapy when you are affected by a social anxiety disorder
- Discretion – You choose the place where you hold sessions
- Confidentiality and information security – video and audio transmission are encrypted by Skype
- Convenient electronic payment methods
Psychotherapist for people living abroad
Remote assistance is especially useful for people living or temporarily staying abroad. Why? There are at least several reasons. One of them is the need for communication in the mother tongue. Even if you speak a foreign language fluently, travel deep into yourself, reach the deepest layers of the subconscious mind, speaking the language of emotions, they will require efficient communication, and this is the most effective and natural in your native language.
Another reason is the psychotherapist’s understanding of cultural conditions. If you are Polish, a specialist of the same nationality will understand you best. Also, an economic factor may be relevant. Psychological therapy in western countries is much more expensive than in Poland and therefore may not be available. There are of course more advantages of using psychological help via the Internet for Poles staying abroad.
Effectiveness of remote psychological help
Scientific research on the effectiveness of remote support shows that the effectiveness of online psychotherapy is as high as the effectiveness of traditional psychotherapy. Below are just a few examples of scientific studies proving effectiveness.
The 2014 study compared the effectiveness of traditional depression therapy to remote psychotherapy. Studies have shown that online intervention to treat depression is as effective as regular traditional therapy. Studies have also shown that more long-term effects could be found in the online psychotherapy group, which proved to be an effective form of mental health protection.
A 2015 study found that online therapy (in this case, online cognitive-behavioral therapy) was as effective as traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating anxiety disorders.
In a 2016 study, scientists found that the distance psychologist’s service combined with clinical care was effective in treating depression, anxiety, and emotional stress associated with the disease. The results indicated that in some cases some patients had better results of treatment with the use of remote psychological assistance than those who used the traditional form of psychotherapy.
