Online Psychotherapy (Skype)

Online psychotherapy can be as effective as Face to Face psychotherapy in my Sydney office. In both instances their success depends a lot on the client and counsellor engagement. Often a person responds better in online psychotherapy sessions than in-person sessions, since he or she feels more anonymous and more open to disclose, and this can be beneficial.

Pros and cons of online psychotherapy

Online psychotherapy can be ideal for those individuals who are often too busy to schedule an appointment in person, too constrained, or inconvenienced by distant location and find difficult to travel. Someone may feel anxious to see a qualified professional in person. However, for most clients, Online Therapy can be a first step in taking a positive action in doing something about an aspect of their life that needs improvement.

There is a perceived idea that without seeing body language, there may be limitations or disadvantages in communication and that online psychotherapy may not be equally effective as ‘face to face’ therapy. When considering the significance of body language against the content of what is being said, online psychotherapy has, in fact, the potential to be more focused on the dialogue than in a conversation between counsellor and client in the same room.

The differences in meeting in person and meeting online may still point to some limitations. These constraints should be balanced against the extra attention that words receive when they are conveyed from a position of comfort like when in a familiar environment.

Online psychotherapy setting

Clients that find difficulties with transport, roads traffic or need to save time because they have a busy schedule at home or at the office all they need is a computer with a webcam, and a quiet and private place with Internet access. Clients can have a professional consultation with their therapist in confidence and relaxed in their own home or workplace. The most common approach to online therapy is probably webcam psychotherapy via Skype sessions. Therefore, since webcam psychotherapy is done face to face, online psychotherapy is like ‘in person’.

If they prefer not to be seen, they can agree to talk without the video, which is like a normal telephone psychotherapy. In both cases to avoid costly long distance calls it is convenient to meet on Skype, where Skype to Skype connections are free of charge.

Contact me now on Skype, call me on (02) 8011 4367 or send me a message.