Online and Phone Therapy: Challenges and Opportunities

This article reviews the existing literature on the potential advantages and drawbacks of therapy that is conducted when the clinician and client are not sitting in the same room. Specifically, forms of psychotherapy that are conducted via the telephone, e-mail, and video chat are addressed. As different researchers have reported contradictory findings on this topic, and the laws and policies that govern these types of therapy interactions are still being developed, it is suggested that clinicians use extra caution when providing treatment through these media.