Online Psychotherapy from a Therapist Perspective
Blog written by the psychologists at Psinove. We explore topics related to psychology and psychotherapy, daily challenges, and reflections.
While many psychotherapists in various parts of the world were already conducting online therapy and there was even research proving its effectiveness, I continued to resist online therapy. I thought it was too distant and did not allow for deep therapeutic work. But when some of my patients went abroad and still needed therapy, I accepted and adapted. Then requests started coming in from people who preferred a therapist who spoke Portuguese and shared the same culture rather than in-person therapy in a foreign language and especially with a therapist with a very different frame of reference.
The first person I supported in these circumstances was living in a Nordic country, and, in this particular case, understanding and regulating the relationship with family was difficult to comprehend for a therapist who had been raised in such a different culture regarding family ties among adults. After that, patients with demanding schedules started appearing, for whom it was more advantageous to have some sessions online and others in person. I got used to it and realized that online therapy, while different from in-person, works. And sometimes it can be even closer than being together in our office. Sometimes it feels like we are in the patient's home.
In Portugal, home sessions are not very common, but many of us, under exceptional conditions, visit our patients' homes. On this topic, a therapist who is a reference for many of us, Irvin Yalom, wrote a few years ago about the advantages of home consultations: we enter the patient's life in a more real way, we see their spaces, and we interact with them in a "their" place. I fully agree and have been reminded of some common points between home therapy and online therapy. One of my patients, usually tense and very rigid in her posture during our sessions, was much more relaxed and at ease in our first online session. It wasn't just her posture; it was easier for her to address difficult issues because she felt safer and less judged. It was an important change because feeling freer and communicating more spontaneously are central themes of our therapy.
Online therapy may not be the ideal answer for all patients or for all therapists, but it is much richer than it may seem at first glance, and for me, it is proving to be.