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Online Therapy Works Just as Well as Face-to-Face

"This will take off like a rocket."
Image via Wikimedia

Good news for those of you who've been putting off going to therapy because the commute’s a bitch: online psychotherapy actually works. According to a new report, cyber-therapy is just as effective as face-to-face care, and could be even better.

Researchers from the University of Zurich studied 68 patients, half of whom were treated for depression online and the other half in person, over the course of eight sessions. The results were basically split down the middle. They found 53 percent of the online patients showed signs of improvement, compared to 50 percent of the face-to-face patients.

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Interestingly, the online therapy had a lasting effect too. When researchers checked in after three months, more people in the face-to-face group had slipped back into feelings of depression, making the gap even wider—57 percent to 43 percent. The report was published last week in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

It's a pretty small sample size, and the study authors admit more research is needed to back up their conclusion. But the findings reflect past studies of the effectiveness of online therapy. With further proof that nothing is lost in foregoing face-to-face, we could see an uptick in people turning to the web to get their head shrunk.

Psychologist and lawyer Eric A. Harris predicted this two years, telling the New York Times, “In three years, this will take off like a rocket. Everyone will have real-time audiovisual availability. There will be a group of true believers who will think that being in a room with a client is special and you can’t replicate that by remote involvement. But a lot of people, especially younger clinicians, will feel there is no basis for thinking this."

The treatment method in the study was cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is generally a more short-term treatment and can include homework, written or verbal exercises a patient is encouraged to work on in between sessions. The online patients in tended to contact the therapist more often, since communication is easy over email or messaging, and take the homework more seriously. They also had the benefit of a "paper trail"—they could go back and re-read past correspondence with their therapist.

The rise of Skype, video chat and encrypted software to protect patients’ privacy have mainstreamed telepsychiatry over the last few years. Like with any switch from real world to the virtual one, there are obvious benefits. It's convenient: You don't have to drive to the clinic, or wait around, or miss sessions when you travel or move out of town. There's also the option to be anonymous, which could help with the stigma of seeking out psychotherapy.

On the other hand, chatting with your therapist online is not without its awkwardness. I’d imagine it’s hard to make eye contact, or feel the same level of intimacy and empathy. The wi-fi could cut out. The session could get hacked into or spied on. That's probably not the digital footprint you want to leave behind.

Questions of convenience and security aside, a growing body of research suggests the science stands. We can add a healthy mind to the long list of things you get with a laptop and internet connection.