UPDATED BLOG POST! ARCHIVE (2018): Online Therapy: Pros and Cons
Online Therapy: Pros and Cons
What is so amazing about affordable therapy, and what can improve from it?
I am not here, today, to rat out online therapy. If anything, I am here to compliment it. If I did not point out what needs to be improved upon, however, people would not understand how much they would benefit from knowing ahead of time.
What is so different about online therapy? I use an app called Talkspace.
Online therapy has a lot of stigma surrounding it. People tend to assume that because there is “an app for everything nowadays”, that it is terrible because the people that they are working with are not actual licensed therapists, that they may get scammed and not taken seriously, that they can’t get help through an app, and that technology is a bad thing. If you’ve never used an app for therapy, let me show you a video explaining how talkspace works:
All of these myriad assumptions are false, and there are so many benefits to online therapy. I will talk about the cons later on, but for right now, here are the actual benefits to online therapy:
- It’s affordable.
If you are a college student, or in a low-income situation, online therapy is a great way to get the help and support you need. They even give you discounts when you first start. The cheapest rate for talkspace? $49 a week, without imsurance. Look out for the discounts! There are other online therapy apps out there. This app is only for US citizens, but there are more apps for users worldwide. After an assessment, you can choose your own payment plan.
2. You can choose your therapist.
That’s right! The app does not choose for you. The app helps you along by suggesting therapists based on your tailored needs. You start with a person who will set you up with a therapist, kind of like how a dating app sets you up with the person. Therapy is not online dating, but it’s platform is similar (not the exact same because you’re talking to someone with online therapy to get your questions answered before you are matched with a therapist). The person who is setting you up will guide you along with a series of questions. Once you’ve answered those, within the next 3 hours, you will hear back and see the recommendations. From there, you can either choose, or ask for more recommendations! The decision is entirely up to you.
3. All of the therapists are actually licensed.
No one is being scammed here. Therapists, before they are hired, go through an interview process with talkspace. If they are hired, they are certified LPC’s, LC-SW’s, or whatever label, and will take their job very seriously. Most likely you are not their first client. And they are experienced with online therapy. So if something happens, you can talk to them about it! If you have any questions about the process of online therapy, you can ask them as well.
4. You can choose your therapist based on your own schedule.
When the person who is assessing you suggests a few therapists (like 3 or 4 at a time), then you can look at their online profile to see who they are, what type of therapist they are, and they even will have a video you can watch in their profile! Below all of that is their schedule. With talkspace, the client can talk whenever, and the therapist will respond to you 5 days a week (1 or 2 times a day). It’s quite convenient. They will also list the times they are available, not just the days throughout the week.
5. You can contact your therapist whenever you need to!
You don’t have to wait for the once a week appointment to talk to them. They won’t respond back until they do, but the good thing is, if something is on your mind, your therapist is (literally) an app away. Can’t sleep? Stressed out? Feeling down? Talk away!
6. Video chats and voice recordings are available.
You can video chat with your therapist! It’s not live, unless you pay more and update your payment plan, however. You don’t always have to text your therapist. Just hit that voice recording button if you feel like talking!!! Thankfully online therapy is still talk therapy, and these are two reasons why. Communication is key in any sort of therapeutic relationship, so texting is just as a valid way to communicate. You are not required to video chat or send voice recordings. Video chats are available once a month on talkspace.
7. You can cancel anytime!
Online therapy not your forte after a while? That’s okay! You can cancel your plan any time you’d like.
8. Not liking your therapist? You can change who you work with.
With online therapy, there is a process to ending the working relationship, just like in-person therapy. You do need to tell the therapist that you want to not work with them anymore, and mention why. This is key.
9. Online therapy is more tech-friendly.
When you work with an app, you can either text or voice record or video chat from your phone, or the computer!
Now that I’ve covered the pros…. here are the cons:
- Face-to-face interaction occurs a lot less often.
So this is the one downside. Having a rough day? Wanting that caring look on a face from a therapist? Not going to happen as often, unless you video chat. It can make things harder as a result for self-care and validation for those who have depression and/or major depressive-disorder (MD-D).
2. Anyone can misinterpret text messages.
You’re going to have more practice at understanding what someone’s intentions on an app can be, but it can be still quite a barrier to fully understand their intentions without hurt feelings.
3. Therapists can make mistakes online too, not just in person.
I wouldn’t really call this entirely a con. The process of recognizing that your therapist is flawed in therapy can actually help your development as you begin your work with your therapist. Anyone can make mistakes… the one downside is nowadays we are more prone to reading things too literally on social media, so whenever a therapist has good intentions behind a comment, it can be harder for the client to recognize how to respond. But it can work itself out. An improvement would be for the therapist to recognize this issue and own up to their mistake right away, and ask for any clarity on what went wrong every single time, even if the therapist makes the mistake of needing to be right (the client is right 99.9% of the time).
4. Online therapy feels less like a therapeutic relationship sometimes.
Sometimes you don’t feel the genuine warmth and care from a therapist as you would with in-person therapy. To fix this, therapists should get degrees in writing and change how detailed in communication they are when they text you, or just tell them that you feel like you need to switch from texting only to voice recordings and video chats. If the conversation is vague, then how is the client always supposed to know that you care as a therapist, unless they don’t struggle with validation as much?
5. Online therapy doesn’t replace therapy permanently.
If you rely on this for therapy all the time, it won’t help you. It should never be a permanent replacement for therapy.
Those are the only cons I can think of. If anyone has any others to add, feel free to comment! I can update the list. Please remember that online therapy is a great thing!
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