Are Telephone / Skype Sessions Really Effective?
KIM RICHARDSON’S EXPERIENCE
For the first 12 years of my clinical practice I offered face-to-face therapy in my office. Telephone sessions were offered when a client was travelling, leaving the country, or, during times of crisis, needed shorter sessions to manage the time between regular sessions.
When I left my home country in 2000, I continued on the phone with some of my clients and I also continued talking to my personal therapist over the phone. When my family and I moved to a very small town in 2007, I began to offer telephone sessions to both existing and new clients. I therefore have experience at both ends of the telephone line – being the client and being the therapist / counselor or coach.
While I believe face-to-face psychotherapy and counseling are most effective, I do believe that telephone and skype sessions provide a very effective alternative when face-to-face therapy is not available or convenient. Telephone counseling is not effective or fulfilling or even appropriate for everyone. But it works really really well for a great deal of people!
During our initial session over the phone I will be assessing whether telephone or skype counseling is appropriate for you. If I find this is not the case and feel strongly that you need to see a counselor face-to-face, I will help you find someone, and where applicable, refund you.
RESEARCH
Studies show that the use of telephone and video conferencing is increasing in use, and effectiveness.
“As the use of Internet and telecommunications services continues to grow, researchers have questioned the practice of telephone counseling for general mental health. But according to a study reported in the April Journal of Counseling Psychology(Vol. 49, No. 2), telephone counseling appears to be an effective psychological practice.”
The researchers “found that telephone counseling was beneficial and satisfactory, marked by specific improvement on the issue that lead to counseling and global improvement in emotional state. Of the 186 respondents, 68 percent reported feeling very or completely satisfied with the telephone counseling and 53 percent said they felt somewhat better as a result of counseling. The data also indicate that telephone counseling did not appear to work as well as face-to-face counseling for people who reported feeling very poorly: 31 percent of respondents who initially described that they felt very poorly reported improvement in functioning, compared with 54 percent in the Consumer Reports study of face-to-face counseling.
In contrast to face-to-face counseling, telephone counseling is convenient and less expensive–if provided in a format similar to this study’s–and the anonymity of the service may provide clients with a greater sense of control, the authors note. For people who do not have access to affordable mental health care, telephone counseling may be a viable option, they add. The authors also point out that without an office, clothes and physical appearance to potentially distract them, clients being counseled via phone may be inclined to focus better on what the therapist says (APA.org).”
Source: http://yafca.org/archives/849
A recent study in the Journal of Counseling and Development showed that people are generally more satisfied with phone counseling than face-to-face counseling.
A much higher percentage (93% for telephone compared to 63% for face-to-face) said they would seek counseling again. It also found that more than half (58%) of people who had experienced both phone and in-person counseling preferred phone.
Other studies found that people who are experiencing depression were less likely to drop out of telephone therapy and consistently showed improved mood. One such study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2005.
Some advantages to phone counseling
- Privacy – You can have a phone counseling session from the privacy of your home, office or car.
- Ease – It can require a lot of courage to begin counseling. It is less scary to do so over the phone for many people.
- Anonymity – It can be easier to feel safe and open up to a counselor over the phone. This can lead to therapy being more effective.
- Convenience and accessibility – You don’t have to drive to an office, saving time, gas and stress.
- Research suggests it is just as effective – Several studies have come out looking at different forms of phone counseling and many therapists are publishing their experiences. From all of this research, it seems that therapy over the telephone can be just as effective as being in person.
Some disadvantages to counseling by telephone
- Being physically present with your counselor may help you feel more connected with him or her.
- Some people feel safer letting themselves become emotional in the physical presence of another person.
- Bad phone connections and other technical issues can interfere with phone sessions.
- Phone counseling is not appropriate for people who are homicidal, suicidal, self injuring, or requiring more care than one session per week. Phone counselors are less likely to be acquainted with your local emergency service options.