Online Therapy Vs. In-Person Therapy: Your mental health condition has been pursuing you to get help for mental illness since last year, but you could not get it? If so, you are not alone. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 60% of American adults could not get timely mental help in 2020. Covid-19 restrictions have opened the way for Online therapy. The rapid adoption of online therapy by patients urges researchers to evaluate the efficacy of online therapy compared to face-to-face or in-person therapy.
Quick Overview of Online And In-Person Therapy
Psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are being utilized as an antidote to mental illness. Two modes of giving therapy treatments to patients having a mental illness are In-person and online therapy.
In-person therapy is a mode of therapy where one has to visit the doctors in person for having the treatment sessions. These sessions mostly occur in a therapist’s office, where doctors directly observe the patients without any interruptions. Indeed, In-person therapy is one of the best approaches to treat mental illness and has been used by therapists for decades.
On the other hand, online therapy, first introduced in 1990 in Computerised CBT (CBT), has started to gain ground during Covid-19 restrictions when people fighting with addiction faced difficulties in getting life-saving drugs like Suboxone. Online therapy is the technology-assisted, cutting-edge approach to therapy where patients and therapists are connected through emails, video/audio calls, or zoom meetings.
Techniques used to cure mental illness are almost the same in both in-person and online therapy sessions. For example, therapists use cognitive-behavioral therapies in both modes of treatment to replace the negative thinking of patients with the healthier ones.
Does Online Therapy Work?
Despite various concerns raised by patients and researchers about the teletherapy model, a considerable volume of studies back the effectiveness of online therapy. One of such studies published in Science Direct says that teletherapy is as effective as in-person therapy. Likewise, In 2018, a study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders confirmed the effectiveness of online therapies. .
How Does Online Therapy Work?
Online therapy or teletherapy is quite like a therapist in a pocket. You can connect with your therapist most easily at the comfort of your home online.
During the Covid-19, people suffering from mental health issues face problems in approaching in-person therapy providers. Online therapy makes it easier as patients can communicate with therapists in numerous pragmatic ways without leaving their house.
However, as stated above, the treatment approach in both therapies is the same. The only difference is in-person therapy sessions happen in the office of therapists while online therapy sessions are conducted on the internet. These sessions are usually hour-long, and therapists schedule them according to the needs of patients. In between sessions, some therapists do provide the opportunity to patients to contact them at any time.
How Can Online Therapy Best Choice For You
If You Have Time Issues:
Through online therapy, one can save the time required to visit the therapist’s office. All you need to do is open your device and connect with your therapist.
Therapists- Just A Click Away
Online therapy shortens the distance between patients and therapists and makes the availability of treatment a click away. This helps people living in remote areas to get timely mental help which otherwise they could not get.
Online Therapy Is 100% Confidential
Many people fighting with substance use disorder don’t start the treatment because they fear being judged by their community members. In this situation, teletherapy is the best choice for you if you worry that entering therapists’ offices will make you a subject of gossip.You could also try The Confidant Health app, it is a confidential and discreet way to access expert help for medication assisted treatment (MAT)
If we talk about confidentiality between patient and therapist, Federal law and regulations bound therapy providers to protect their patients’ data and use the latest technology to make sure that all patient-doctor conversations remain secure and protected.
If You Have To Travel A Lot:
Online therapy is the best choice for you if you have to travel a lot due to work. Unlike In-person therapy, you don’t have to restrict yourself in a city to get the online sessions.
If You Want To Connect To A Therapist Who Is Not Locally Available:
You can quickly get therapy for mental illness or addiction problems from your favorite therapists without even leaving your house. This is only possible through online therapy. Many famous therapists such as of ChoicePoint’ offer online therapies to help patients get timely treatment for mental illness and addiction.
How Can In-Person Therapy Best For You
It is quite right that some people need in-person interaction. For them, any therapy works only well when they physically spend time with their therapist and communicate without any barrier. In-person therapy could be the best choice for such people.
Likewise, some patients lack focus at home while taking online therapy. For such patients, in-person therapy could be the best choice.
A myth that needs to be cleared now is that some people believe that their insurance providers will cover in-person more than online therapy. The fact is that insurance programs equally cover both in-person and online therapies.
Bottom Line:
Deciding whether to choose online or in-person depends upon the patient’s unique needs and level of mental illness or addiction problems. Therapists may recommend you in-person or teletherapy after assessing your requirements.
Read more: Medical Insurance (Importance, benefits, and needs of health insurance)
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