Online or face to face therapy?

The pandemic has been a catalyst for change in the psychotherapeutic world. During the past couple of years, there has been a huge increase in numbers of people asking for support for the first time.

Let’s face it, it’s been a challenging couple of years for a lot of us. We have been dealing with all sorts of feelings of fear, uncertainty, loss, isolation, relief from an endlessly busy life and maybe for the first time in a while we have had a bit more time to think about our mental wellbeing and how to go about giving it some attention.

Traditionally therapy is done face to face. I trained in the UK and even a few years ago I always got the sense that online therapy was somehow less serious. Not something we were really ready to do here in the UK. This has changed and it was about time.

So what is the fear about therapy online? There are some obvious pros like being able to have therapy from anywhere, being able to access a therapist you like in a different country or language. Online therapy also means that we are able to access a broader demographic that needs support. But, what’s lost?

As a young therapist, I have always preferred to work face to face but I have had to adapt.

The best way for me to explain the difference is this:

Imagine sitting at a dinner party or meeting a friend. Sure, you could do the same virtually and it would have its purpose but there is no doubt that something is lost. In therapy, for me, it’s the same.

For the best result in therapy, the relationship between the client and the therapist is the most important element and my feeling as a therapist, is that by not meeting the client face to face I would miss out on something. But this is my personal preference, as I keep communicating, there is no right way of doing things.

How you do your therapy will depend on what you establish with your therapist.

In my practice, I hope to be able to do both. Both, is the most amazing option of the world we live in today. I feel that because of technology we are now able to make the best of both worlds. In a therapeutic context, that means being able to make the most of an online session (because somebody might be traveling for example) or meet face to face. The combination is possible.

With all the gloom of the past couple of years we need to start taking some of the positives, the acceptance of working online as a viable and recognised option to therapy is one of them.