Online Therapy

Daryl Hartlauer

BSHS-375

06/18/2015

David B. Lagerson

Online Therapy

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and to report how on-line therapy is currently being implemented in treatment today. I will be looking at three different current services and how they are regulated, how they are implemented, security issues, ethical issues, and treatment facilitation. In my opinion on-line therapy offers some unique advantages both for the client and the therapist. There are however some considerations in regards to distance, such as therapy being provided across state or national boundaries, being able to maintain a secure environment as well as a loss of some valuable to cues in reading and evaluating the client. Breakthrough Behavioral Inc. Breakthrough.com is a website that offers to link up therapists and counselors with clients on a secure platform. There is no cost to the client or the provider for using this service. It uses HIPPA compliant technologies to protect the patients' privacy. There is direct billing through the site. There are clinical tools available to track and monitor the progress of outcomes. There is an integrated chat feature that works with most Internet Browsers. Clients who use Breakthrough are allowed to search through a list of available providers with biographies to match their needs. According to their press release, Breakthrough is currently available in ten states across the country, with five million members through existing contracts. They plan to expand nationally over the next several years. According to research, teletherapy is as effective as face to face sessions. 81% of their patients have shown improvement by the end of treatment sessions using video counseling. MDLIVE which now owns Breakthrough was founded in 2009 and is a leader in providing tele-healthcare solutions. The software platform makes it possible for patients, healthcare professionals an administrator's to collaborate via voice, video, e-mail and mobile devices. Data can be collected and shared including medical records, lab results, and biometric devices. This platform allows the physician or therapist to provide real-time assessments, diagnosis, and treatment. They can even, if needed, write prescriptions for routine medical conditions. ( PR Newswire Association LLC., 2015)
MyTherapyCouch.com
MyTherapyCouch offers a free service provided online which can be used as a convenient and economical way to begin to address some needs and potential areas of therapy. This service is not meant to replace conventional therapy. Online therapy can be particularly helpful to patients who suffer from social phobias or are constrained by distance. Most free online therapy is done anonymously and is primarily used for pre-diagnosis or referral. Typically with free online therapy, a potential client can login with a counselor who can assess their problem either with a live chat, video conferencing or by e-mail exchange. The online counselor can help determine whether the problem needs to be addressed by a face to face therapist. ("My Therapy Couch", nd) Top Twenty Sites This site lists over 20 other sites for online counseling services. It also ranks them using their own criteria. From family and couples workshops to individual therapy using a variety of different approaches. Most offer free assessments and lead to paid services. The top pick for this site ranked number one is mytherapynet.com. After filling out a free sign up I could log into the site and you a list of over 45 different specialties for therapy. Some of those specialties include: ADD/ADHD, addiction specialist, adolescents, anger management, anxiety treatment, autism, adoption, career specialist, caregiver support, depression, eating disorders, family therapy, group therapy, grief and loss, marriage and relationships, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(OCD), and there were many others. There is a short Bio along with a picture describing each therapist and counselor. I could then private message a specific therapist and see if it would be a good fit for my need. Each listed therapist or counselor is licensed in their field for their particular state. This company founded in April of 2000 is claimed to be the largest global network of therapists available for online services. ("Online Therapy", 2015)
Conclusion
There are a myriad of choices available to choose from. Many are offering very similar services, so it is a good practice to check their credentials, read their bios along with their ratings. Make sure that they're using HIPPA approved software and have secure network connections. Another consideration, is the counselor certified or licensed in your state? Checked the pricing and read all the fine print to ensure you are getting what you are paying for. With the variety and types of services available online, be clear in what you’re trying to accomplish and what your needs are in order to make an informed decision. Some of the services use skype (business) or private e-mail lists. E-mail counseling evolved out of more traditional paper letter based counseling. This type of counseling has been used all the way back to Freud and his patients. One of the major drawbacks compared to face to face is that some of the inflection, tone of voice, posture and body language can not necessarily be transmitted online. This can make it difficult to accurately assess the client or even lead to misdiagnosis. For someone who suffers with some forms of social disorder, his physical limitations, lives a great and distance away from a major town were quality care could be given, or is simply faced with very little available time; online therapy may be an option to consider. Typically online therapy is relatively inexpensive and easy to access over the Internet. There is even limited crisis counseling available for immediate need or service. Most of these therapies are considered brief interventions, lasting only a few sessions over a few weeks or months, and many offer referral services for continuing care. Online therapy is not a recommended choice for patients suffering with severe psychological disorders. There are several organizations which offer ‘best practice’ ethical guidelines for online therapy. These are freely available to both the consumer and professionals over the web. The guidelines might better be considered as technology assessments which provide some introduction an orientation to the technological context and its ramifications. Online therapists operating without some intimate knowledge of their technological context is similar to a hearing-impaired counsellor who hasn’t checked whether clients can be overheard outside the consulting room. It is not enough for the online practitioner to merely propose something along the lines of “I’m going to focus on my clinical skills and not worry about the technology.” They need to have a keen awareness or at least use a platform that can ensure privacy and security issues are met. —Mulhauser, Gregory R. (2005) In all, online therapy is proving to be more than just a growing trend, and will continue to be popular due to its convenience and its low cost. Therapeutic practices and standards are improving along with the governing bodies that oversee these professionals making online therapy a viable option for many seeking treatment.

References
Mulhauser, Gregory R. (2005). 9 Observations About the Practice and Process of Online Therapy. Retrieved from: http://counsellingresource.com/ lib / supervision/ papers/ online-practice/
My Therapy Couch. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.mytherapycouch.com/free_online_therapy/
OnLine Therapy. (2015). Retrieved from http://mytherapynet.com/
Top Online Therapy Sites. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.top20sites.com/top-online-therapy-sites
PR Newswire Association LLC. (2015). MDLIVE Acquires Breakthrough Behavioral. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mdlive-acquires-breakthrough-behavioral-to-become-americas-1-telehealth-provider-of-medical-and-behavioral-health-solutions-282268101.html