Remote therapy

Last updated

Remote therapy, sometimes called telemental health applications [1] or Internet-based psychotherapy, [2] is a form of psychotherapy or related psychological practice in which a trained psychotherapist meets with a client or patient via telephone, cellular phone, the internet or other electronic media in place of or in addition to conventional face-to-face psychotherapy.

Contents

Initially, it was primarily intended a substitution for conventional, face-to-face therapy in which a client or patient is required to visit a psychotherapists office. Increasingly, however, academics are studying the use of electronic media in treatment to explore the possibility of providing novel and potentially more effective therapies.

After reviewing thirteen relevant studies, the authors of a meta-analytic review of psychotherapy mediated by remote communications technology concluded that:

Remote therapy has the potential to overcome some of the barriers to conventional psychological therapy services. Telephone-based interventions are a particularly popular research focus and as a means of therapeutic communication may confer specific advantages in terms of their widespread availability and ease of operation. However, the available evidence is limited in quantity and quality. More rigorous trials are required to confirm these preliminary estimates of effectiveness. [3]

Examples

Despite the absence of complete study, remote therapy has enjoyed growing popularity as a replacement for traditional therapy and innovative practice made possible by electronic medium. Examples include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive behavioral therapy</span> Type of therapy to improve mental health

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Though it was originally designed to treat depression, its uses have been expanded to include many issues and the treatment of many mental health and other conditions, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, ADHD, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, including art therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy or interpersonal therapy, but it is usually applied to psychodynamic group therapy where the group context and group process is explicitly utilized as a mechanism of change by developing, exploring and examining interpersonal relationships within the group.

Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is a form of psychological therapy initially developed in the United Kingdom by Anthony Ryle. This time-limited therapy was developed in the context of the UK's National Health Service with the aim of providing effective and affordable psychological treatment which could be realistically provided in a resource constrained public health system. It is distinctive due to its intensive use of reformulation, its integration of cognitive and analytic practice and its collaborative nature, involving the patient very actively in their treatment.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are two categories of psychological therapies. Their main purpose is revealing the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension, which is inner conflict within the mind that was created in a situation of extreme stress or emotional hardship, often in the state of distress. The terms "psychoanalytic psychotherapy" and "psychodynamic psychotherapy" are often used interchangeably, but a distinction can be made in practice: though psychodynamic psychotherapy largely relies on psychoanalytical theory, it employs substantially shorter treatment periods than traditional psychoanalytical therapies. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is evidence-based; the effectiveness of psychoanalysis and its relationship to facts is disputed.

The Dodo bird verdict is a controversial topic in psychotherapy, referring to the claim that all empirically validated psychotherapies, regardless of their specific components, produce equivalent outcomes. It is named after the Dodo character in Alice in Wonderland. The conjecture was introduced by Saul Rosenzweig in 1936, drawing on imagery from Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but only came into prominence with the emergence of new research evidence in the 1970s.

Online counseling or online therapy is a form of professional mental health counseling that is generally performed through the internet. Computer aided technologies are used by the trained professional counselors and individuals seeking counseling services to communicate rather than conventional face-to-face interactions. Online counseling is also referred to as teletherapy, e-therapy, cyber therapy, or web counseling. Services are typically offered via email, real-time chat, and video conferencing. Some clients use online counseling in conjunction with traditional psychotherapy, or nutritional counseling. An increasing number of clients are using online counseling as a replacement for office visits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Play therapy</span> Childrens mental health therapy method

Play therapy refers to a range of methods of capitalising on children's natural urge to explore and harnessing it to meet and respond to the developmental and later also their mental health needs. It is also used for forensic or psychological assessment purposes where the individual is too young or too traumatised to give a verbal account of adverse, abusive or potentially criminal circumstances in their life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telerehabilitation</span> Delivery of rehabilitation services over the internet

Telerehabilitation (or e-rehabilitation is the delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the internet. Telerehabilitation allows patients to interact with providers remotely and can be used both to assess patients and to deliver therapy. Fields of medicine that utilize telerehabilitation include: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, and psychology. Therapy sessions can be individual or community-based. Types of therapy available include motor training exercises, speech therapy, virtual reality, robotic therapy, goal setting, and group exercise.

Virtual reality therapy (VRT), also known as virtual reality immersion therapy (VRIT), simulation for therapy (SFT), virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), and computerized CBT (CCBT), is the use of virtual reality technology for psychological or occupational therapy and in affecting virtual rehabilitation. Patients receiving virtual reality therapy navigate through digitally created environments and complete specially designed tasks often tailored to treat a specific ailment; and is designed to isolate the user from their surrounding sensory inputs and give the illusion of immersion inside a computer-generated, interactive virtual environment. This technology has a demonstrated clinical benefit as an adjunctive analgesic during burn wound dressing and other painful medical procedures. Technology can range from a simple PC and keyboard setup, to a modern virtual reality headset. It is widely used as an alternative form of exposure therapy, in which patients interact with harmless virtual representations of traumatic stimuli in order to reduce fear responses. It has proven to be especially effective at treating PTSD, and shows considerable promise in treating a variety of neurological and physical conditions. Virtual reality therapy has also been used to help stroke patients regain muscle control, to treat other disorders such as body dysmorphia, and to improve social skills in those diagnosed with autism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telepsychiatry</span> Mental-health care by telecommunication

Telepsychiatry or telemental health refers to the use of telecommunications technology to deliver psychiatric care remotely for people with mental health conditions. It is a branch of telemedicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological intervention</span>

In applied psychology, interventions are actions performed to bring about change in people. A wide range of intervention strategies exist and they are directed towards various types of issues. Most generally, it means any activities used to modify behavior, emotional state, or feelings. Psychological interventions have many different applications and the most common use is for the treatment of mental disorders, most commonly using psychotherapy. The ultimate goal behind these interventions is not only to alleviate symptoms but also to target the root cause of mental disorders.

Child psychotherapy, or mental health interventions for children refers to the psychological treatment of various mental disorders diagnosed in children and adolescents. The therapeutic techniques developed for younger age ranges specialize in prioritizing the relationship between the child and the therapist. The goal of maintaining positive therapist-client relationships is typically achieved using therapeutic conversations and can take place with the client alone, or through engagement with family members.

Attachment-based psychotherapy is a psychoanalytic psychotherapy that is informed by attachment theory.

Services for mental health disorders provide treatment, support, or advocacy to people who have psychiatric illnesses. These may include medical, behavioral, social, and legal services.

Supportive psychotherapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that integrates various therapeutic schools such as psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral, as well as interpersonal conceptual models and techniques.

The mainstay of management of borderline personality disorder is various forms of psychotherapy with medications being found to be of little use.

The use of electronic and communication technologies as a therapeutic aid to healthcare practices is commonly referred to as telemedicine or eHealth. The use of such technologies as a supplement to mainstream therapies for mental disorders is an emerging mental health treatment field which, it is argued, could improve the accessibility, effectiveness and affordability of mental health care. Mental health technologies used by professionals as an adjunct to mainstream clinical practices include email, SMS, virtual reality, computer programs, blogs, social networks, the telephone, video conferencing, computer games, instant messaging and podcasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerhard Andersson</span> Swedish psychologist (born 1966)

Gerhard Andersson is a Swedish psychologist, psychotherapist and Professor of clinical psychology at Linköping University. He is also affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet. He was a co-recipient of the Nordic Medical Prize in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet-based treatments for trauma survivors</span>

Internet-based treatments for trauma survivors is a growing class of online treatments that allow for an individual who has experienced trauma to seek and receive treatment without needing to attend psychotherapy in person. The progressive movement to online resources and the need for more accessible mental health services has given rise to the creation of online-based interventions aimed to help those who have experienced traumatic events. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be particularly effective in the treatment of trauma-related disorders and adapting CBT to an online format has been shown to be as effective as in-person CBT in the treatment of trauma. Due to its positive outcomes, CBT-based internet treatment options for trauma survivors has been an expanding field in both research and clinical settings.

References

  1. Hailey, David; Roine, Risto; Ohinmaa, Arto (2008). "The Effectiveness of Telemental Health Applications: A Review". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 53 (11): 769–78. doi: 10.1177/070674370805301109 . PMID   19087471. S2CID   19800383.
  2. Simon, Gregory E; Ludman, Evette J (2009). "It's time for disruptive innovation in psychotherapy". The Lancet. 374 (9690): 594–5. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61415-X. PMID   19699995. S2CID   46516049.
  3. Bee, Penny E; Bower, Peter; Lovell, Karina; Gilbody, Simon; Richards, David; Gask, Linda; Roach, Pamela (2008). "Psychotherapy mediated by remote communication technologies: A meta-analytic review". BMC Psychiatry. 8: 60. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-8-60 . PMC   2496903 . PMID   18647396.
  4. Adam Shaw (June 15, 2009). "Q-West Chaplains Introduce Video Teleconference Counseling for Couples". United States Army. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  5. "AbleTo | Pioneering High-Quality Virtual Behavioral Health Care". ableto.com.
  6. "At-Home, Internet-Enabled Therapy Sessions Enhance Access to Cognitive Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Leading to High Levels of Patient and Therapist Satisfaction". AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange. Archived from the original on Jan 24, 2021.
  7. "What is digital health technology and what can it do for me?". NIHR Evidence. 2022-09-27. doi: 10.3310/nihrevidence_53447 .