Is Videoconferencing the Future Wave Psychotherapy?

It seems that video is killing the waiting room. In an effort to shorten wait times, child psychologist are turning to videoconferencing to expand services and reach more patients via “telemental health services.”

But is this a good idea for the rest of us? Can anxiety disorders and other mental health issues be addressed effectively by videoconferencing?

For anyone familiar with psychotherapy, you know the experience is fraught with undesirable details. For example, after making the difficult phone call to seek help, you then have to walk into an office and wait to be seen.

These little rooms are usually nicely furnished and have jittery people in them – all wondering why the person next to them is in there too. Are they suicidal? Are they depressed?

Then, there is the magazines, like the Readers Digest and National Geographic laying all over the place. Then, finally, someone comes to fetch you and calls out your name, usually very loudly. Kind of stressful.

Introducing videoconferencing. For those of you stuck in the stone age, videoconferencing involves you looking into a computer screen where you can see and hear another person in real time.

I like the idea. Not just because it allows you to bypass the waiting room, but also because it allows you to seek help from the comfort of your own home. And when it comes to anxiety disorders feeling safe matters.

Plus, when you go and see a therapist, it’s not like the doc is there to hug you and so on. They are there to diagnose, inform, and hopefully heal. All of these things can be done effectively through a computer screen.

It’s also much better than a phone call because it is still a face to face conversation.

It also might make a patient more willing to engage in therapy, because the distance that the videoconferencing provides could inject you with a bit of courage.

This is also good from a practical perspective. This would allow for less travel, fewer scheduling conflicts, and overall convenience that can’t be obtained from a trek to some far off office building.

And what of anonymity? Of course the doctor can see you, but you can skip the people near the office, the office staff, and everybody else that is not directly involved in your care.

I think this is a good trend that may even encourage people to seek help when they may have otherwise avoided it.

What do you think about videoconference therapy? Comment below.