Cyber Therapy

Amanda and I will be leading the class discussion about Cyber Therapy a little later on, so I thought for my blog post I’d do a little research and see what aspects of online therapy have already been examined and what kinds of questions these studies bring to mind.

In the Eyes of the Beholder: Exploring Psychologists' Attitudes towards and Use of e-Therapy in Norway.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=102&sid=b52a8de3-6504-4f83-ba55-62ec14e7e261%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=25536566#db=a9h&AN=25536566

First, I found a study that explored the use of “e-media” communication mediums such as email and text messaging by Norwegian psychologists. It determined psychologists’ attitudes towards the use of these forms of communication in the therapeutic context, and also sought to determine whether theoretical standpoints influenced their attitudes and if so, to what degree.

A little more than half of the participants in this study felt that e-communication would be helpful but only in addition to face-to-face therapy sessions. The overall attitude of the participants towards e-communication used for therapeutic purposes, when averaged, was neutral. Therapists who work from a dynamic theoretical framework were more likely to hold negative attitudes towards e-therapy and were thus less likely to use email or other online forms of communication with clients.

I would be interested to see for which types of presenting problems e-therapy is most effective, which form of online communication is best suited for e-therapy (whether it be a delayed response form such as e-mail or a quick response form such as instant messaging), the effect of the clients’ comfort level with and/or knowledge of online communication on the effectiveness of e-therapy, and more research on theoretical approach and use of e-therapy.

On a different note, I would like to learn more about other types of CMC used for therapeutic purposes. For example, one article I just skimmed quickly mentioned the use of immersive virtual reality in online cognitive-behavioral therapy. I hadn’t considered this, but one of the articles I skimmed even mentioned using applications on cell phones as an addition to face-to-face therapy. With all of the new phones like the I-Phone and the Androids and all of the apps being made available, it makes sense to explore how therapists can use this new technology for therapeutic purposes outside of face-to-face sessions.

I think that the convenience of online communication makes it a valuable tool that certainly should be at least considered by therapists. I don’t think that e-therapy alone would be as effective as face-to-face therapy for many clients. However, for clients who are unable to see a therapist face-to-face for whatever reason, e-therapy would probably be better than no therapy.  What other variables do you think would play a significant role in E-Therapy? I'm sure there are far more than I was able to come up with.