Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Online Therapies - Essay Example

Internet has become the source for communication, shopping, research and education. At the same time, internet provides the opportunity to find advice, read real life stories and share feelings. Thousands of licensed professional in mental health as well as freelancers offer the online therapy to individuals through online chat rooms and email. Online therapy has many benefits, for house-bound patients, for example, who are not able to visit the office of psychotherapist for face-to-face conversation. Most of the professional associates have already launched the online therapy programs which are available for remote individuals. Despite of the benefits embedded in online therapy, the service delivery is highly controversial. First, very little research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of online therapies. Second, people who are in extreme crisis and need help may not be able to write their concerns to the psychologists and wait for the reply. Sites offering online therapy are very alike - have almost the same pages, site content and prices. Each site claims having only professional psychologists and guarantee confidentially. The purpose of http://www.4etherapy.com/about_online_therapy.htm is to deliver the professional online counselling with licensed clinicians. The site content is limited to "home", "about online therapy", "for professionals", "about us", and "contact us" pages". Clients of this site are offered email, private chat and phone sessions. Notably, it is stated that the license of each clinician is verified with the state's regulatory board and therapists are responsible for providing the proof of liability insurance. Individuals who have busy schedules, difficulty with travelling, or other privacy issues are invited to use this website. Another site http://www.asktheinternettherapist.com/e-therapy.asp offers the wider range of services: in office counselling, audiovisual counselling, telephone therapy, email therapy, real-time chat, hypnosis tapes, and educational videos. In addition the site is divided into two parts: one for clients and another for medical staff. There is a lot of information about online therapies, self-improvement books, free discussion groups, questionnaires, articles and FAQ. The staff consists of Physician, Nurse, Nutritionist, Chiropractor and even Veterinarian. This site http://www.gracetreecounseling.com/OnlineCounselingTreat.htm provides information about the benefits of internet therapy as well as some limitations. In addition, it is stated that online counselling is not appropriate for issues regarding child abuse and suicidal behaviour. Individuals with such problems are provided with the phone numbers of the services providing assistance on these issues. Confidentiality and privacy concerns are also addressed, even though very little is noted about the competencies of the staff members. The site content is limited to "about us", "meet the counsellor", "treatment options", "services and fees", "privacy agreement" and "helpful link". Nevertheless, the huge number of sties offering online therapy to clients is threatening. It is hard to control the quality of the assistance and almost impossible to verify whether the individual typing answers is truly professional. Strom King, the president of the International Society for Mental Health Online, has noted that internet cannot be controlled by government and people have to take more responsibility for what they consume online (Kliger 2000). Moreover, Martha Ainsworth (the holder of the site uniting therapists) said she knew of no lawsuits filed against online advisers even though many of them lack competence to be therapists (Kliger 2000). The professional community has no single meaning about the effectiveness of online therapy. As it was already stated, most of associations have already integrated online therapy as part of their service. Moreover, many universities introduce the programs training psychologists in tele-health. For example, the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology teaches its students how to provide the mental health guidance online (Segall 2000). Stuart Tentoni, the coordinator of the Norris Health Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison is not so optimistic. He believes that without seeing the person it is impossible to get the full sense of person's problems and situation in order to adequately render advice (Segall 2000). The major concerns related to online therapy are ethics, privacy and security. Individuals with mental disorders tend not to think about these issues, however, the person who seeks advice in the specific situation or experiences emotional turndown, will definitely pay attention to privacy and security. The former president of the American Counselling Association, Courtland Lee has noted that online counselling "should be ethically sound as all other forms of client service delivery" (Shaw 2006, 41). Unethical counsellors may significantly harm the clients with difficult mental health issues. Another point is related to availability of the counsellor and the speed with which client's request are answered. Notably, only 75 percent of sites offering online therapy listed degrees of their counsellors and only 51 percent of sites gave the major and college for each degree (Shaw 2006, 47). Sites without this information should be marked as unprofessional and insecure to use. In addition to ethical concerns, security and confidentiality of online therapy are still questioned. The clients should be informed that the effectiveness of online therapy has not been tested yet, and "regardless of efforts taken to secure the client's privacy, e-mail communication is not confidential or secure and is subject to hacking or interception by employers, insurance companies and the intrusively curious" (Gross 2002, 30). E-mails and other personal information can be stored and monitored even without the knowledge of the provider. Confidentiality is further compromised by the lack of firewalls. Thus, the person who considered using online therapy as an alternative to traditional counselling, should be aware about the security issues and be sceptical about the claims of sites that the confidentiality is guaranteed. Taking into account all of the above factors related to online therapy, it is not easy to state with confidence whether online counselling is beneficial for clients. From one side, online therapy may save the time and money, the service delivery is convenient and the person does not have to worry about how he looks. The written records can be kept for further reference and it is the solution for those individuals who do not want to inform their friends and relatives about using outside counselling. Moreover, the individuals living in remote areas or lacking opportunity to visit the therapist's office benefit from using online therapies which is available 24 hours 7 days per week. From the other side, nonverbal clues are not available to the therapist who do not get the full picture of the problem. Medication will not be prescribed online as well and many clients with mental problems do need medication. My personal opinion is that online therapy should be viewed as initial stage of treatment, but not as the substitute of face-to-face therapy. Word Count: 1092 References Gross, B. (2002). Online Therapy. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 5 (5), 30. Kliger, G. (Ed.). (2000, July 24). When Cybertherapy Goes Bad. Health and Balance. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/when-cybertherapy-goes-bad Segall, R. (2000). Online Shrinks: The Inside Story. Psychology Today, 33 (3), 38+. Shaw, H. & Shaw, S. (2006). Critical Ethical Issues in Online Counselling: Assessing Current Practices with an Ethical Intent Checklist. Journal of Counseling and Development, 84 (1), 41+. Read More