Best Practices in e-Therapy

What is e-therapy?

E-therapy is a new modality of helping people resolve life and relationship issues. It utilizes the power and convenience of the Internet to allow simultaneous (synchronous) and time-delayed (asynchronous) communication between an individual and a professional. The focus of e-therapy varies from client to client. Some clients will want to discuss interpersonal relationships, or learn new ways of dealing with stress. Other clients may use e-therapy as an adjunct to other types of real-world services, or to help clarify issues they are currently working on. Still others will use e-therapy to "check-in" from time to time with an objective third-party professional to take stock in their life and work on more philosophical life issues.

What is e-therapy not?

E-therapy is not psychotherapy, nor is it psychological counseling. Since it does not presume to diagnose or treat mental or medical disorders, and because it does not limit who may be appropriate to provide e-therapy services, it would be inappropriate to compare it to traditional face-to-face psychotherapy, assessment, or counseling services. Like other types of therapy (occupational therapy, bibliotherapy, physical therapy), e-therapy helps a person address issues of concern to them in their lives under the guidance of a professional. E-therapy does not diagnose disorders, nor does it treat diagnosed mental or medical disorders. E-therapy is similar to the idea of "coaching," helping a person address specific concerns with specific skills. But e-therapy is flexible enough to also address more philosophical issues as well, if an individual so desires.

What makes e-therapy better than other modalities of help available?

When e-therapy is conducted via its preferred modality (e-mail, an asynchronous communication), it allows both the client and the professional to fully reflect on issues discussed in a previous correspondence. Unlike other helping methods, such as traditional psychotherapy, e-therapy's strength is in the ability to explore and flesh-out a person's concerns without awkwardness or the need to "think on one's feet."

In fact, because there are no social and nonverbal cues in e-therapy, the participants can get to the point of issues quickly and easily. Embarrassment and other impediments (e.g., confidentiality fears) don't have to be issues in e-therapy. E-therapy's ability to provide a forum for tapping into the wealth of educational material online is unparalleled in the real-world. And because e-therapy is text-based, it is more likely to access the skills most associated with reading and comprehension. This means the cloud of emotion can be, perhaps, more readily lifted via e-therapy's methods.

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