Is Teletherapy Really Effective?

Remote mental health services have been around for a while, long before the pandemic. So, we've had plenty of time to study how well they work, and there are some encouraging findings.

Hosted by: Hank Green
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[delphinidin]

I definitely read this title as "Is telepathy really effective?" and i was like, wow, sci show??

[pay]

as someone with a disability that makes leaving the house hard, the increase of remote options have truly been a godsend!

[bobmonk]

I work in adult mental health services, primarily psychosis patients. The irony of having to ask someone things along the lines of:
"Are you having any paranoid, strange or intrusive thoughts? Do you feel like people are watching you, can you hear or see things that others can't? Any command thoughts coming from your phone, computer or the TV? Do you feel like people monitoring you through technology or hidden cameras..."
...all whilst saying this over a video call...

[laurenconrad]

I've been seeing my therapist over video calls for many years, way before covid. They've always felt the same as in person, though I don't know if the phone would work as well for me. It helps to see the person's face.

[ListerTunes]

Having transitioned from in-person therapy to teletherapy I can say all of this rings pretty true to me. I will also say that when I started therapy I was in a much worse place than I am now, and having someone to hug every week felt like water in the desert. Any therapy is better than no therapy, though, and it's important to get it however you can if you need it. (Edit: any therapy where you and your therapist have a good rapport. Bad therapy, where you and your provider are at odds, is probably worse than no therapy.)

[MadeinHell]

From personal experience I'll say, that like with many things relating to mental health it has a lot to do with attitude. If the predisposition of the patient towards teletherapy is negative (like mine) it's unlikely for the session to feel like it "accomplished" something, unlike most in-person therapy sessions.

Another factor for me personally, is that the meeting in person does allow the patient to feel like they're in a private space and can discuss anything and everything. For people who live with their abusers, or even just friends/family it seems to me like it HAS to have a negative impact on the honesty in communication and the general willingness to divulge information.

I've told my therapist things about myself I've never told anyone else in my life, there is no way I'd divulge that information if we weren't in a room together with the utter certainty that other people can't hear us.

[TheRaisingLower]

Straight up misread the title and saw “telepathy” and thought “hell has finally frozen over”

[stuck_around]

yes its a great option for lots (maybe majority) of people and it should stick around as an optional alternative forever. BUT a lot of people dealing with mental health really struggle with detachment and de-personalization and walking into the office, talking to someone in person, holding attention and practicing eye contact is very important part of treatment . the added tangibility of in-person visits is so crucial especially for people most in need of help eg long term therapy/psychiatrists/getting effective precriptions.

[kyndramb]

I've worked in mental health for many years, with severely mentally ill clients, the kind that can be paranoid about technology. Telehealth did not work during the pandemic for some of our clients, but elevated them instead. We had to make special accommodations for certain clients to get the care they need.

[PRDreams]

Both of my daughters finally started teletherapy and it has been great for them. The pandemic hit the moment they decided to begin their adult lives and move away from home.

It has been hard for them, but been able to talk to a therapist remotely has been beyond amazing. Their confidence have grown 100%>

[dummyinblue]

It took a full minute for me to realize I had misread the title and that this isn't a video about whether telepathy would even function effectively lol but I have had good experiences with teletherapy since the pandemic started, definitely recommend!

[Rikajael]

I have taken part in teletherapy because for the pandemic and I find it effective. I do worry about patients living in abusive situation (verbally, physically or psychologically). If I lived with that person (family member, partner, roommate, etc) I would not feel safe to speak my mind for fear they would somehow find out.

[joyl]

It has been my experience during the pandemic that many mental health professionals are very poorly skilled at setting up an IT solution even as simple as videoconferencing.
Only one of my four mental health professionals figured it out and that's only because she jumped on it as soon as COVID-restrictions came into play and went through a lot of trial and error.
I am very grateful she did though.

[NewMessage]

I read that wrong and was so aghast at giving telepathy a serious treatment, I gave myself a nosebleed blowing up all the lightbulbs in my house.

[irinaphoenix]

I had a therapy appointment while I was in the hot tub once. It was great.

[puffylinux]

i think telehealth therapy has a long way to go, there really has to be a standard to set for WHERE and how these appointments go, many times have I had to basically cancel important telehealth appointments for both physical and mental health all because the therapists wants you to use their Own specific weird buggy app, and isnt guaranteed to always be a suerfire thing. its way too inconsistent and while i think telehealth is very important for improving mental health, we need to make it less complicated for people as it really just becomes more of a headache sometimes than a blessing. making a standard where most telehealth therapy sessions happen is so important, and therapists should also be willing to bend to the will of their patients to help make therapy more accessible for them; after all, we're paying for it!

[scofah]

I like how you use music very sparingly. I like how all the information you shared isn't corrupted by background music.

[karl_alan]

There are some great national trainings on doing teletherapy, and a good understanding of the ACA code of ethics, section H has some great info about how to make it a safe, therapeutic environment and prevent a lot of the bad experiences people have had.
Overall, it can be a great way to provide services to people with barriers to in-person, if done ethically.

[McClintockem]

As a therapist who has been doing work in both settings since the pandemic began, this is a very comforting video.

[rebbecachunn]

I'm so glad I had a great rapport with my therapist before the pandemic. We've been doing the teletherapy for 2 years now and it's been great for when my other health issues flare up.