To think therapy is not as good online?

27 replies

AllTheBestNamesWereTaken · 22/03/2023 21:15

I’ve been recommended a therapist in Central London. However she only offers in person sessions one day a week and it’s a really inconvenient day for me. The other days she works online. I’m not that keen on this idea, especially when paying Central London rates. AIBU?

OP posts:

mynameiscalypso · 23/03/2023 08:32

daretodenim · 23/03/2023 07:32

I don't do online unless there's a good reason (ie was waiting for results if covid test - post lockdown - when I didn't feel sick).

In person a good therapist isn't just looking at your fact and shoulders, they're aware of subtle body shifts, or movements. Let's say you're opening up about something and your voice is relatively steady. What is read from that is different to if s/he sees that you're tapping your foot nervously.

So maybe there are some lighter therapies that can be done online with no real impact, but entirely online is a different thing to entirely, or almost entirely, in person.

Re the psychiatrist, some of them have short sessions to check how someone feels on medication and check how things are going. They're not actually doing therapy (done don't ever do therapy). A check-in meeting like that online would be something I could see working quite well.

And re the travel - it's true it adds time. Sometimes it's good to have that buffer between "life" and "therapy". The travel can let what happened in the session settle a bit, rather than getting straight back to work (at the same desk) or getting on with household daily stuff. Obviously, it's not possible for everybody, like the poster above, but if you don't have as exacting time constraints as, say, a single mother working full time, then it's something worth considering.

Just to clarify on the psychiatrist point; my psychiatrist does therapy too and only offers 1 hour slots. I see him once or twice a week for therapy rather than just medication updates (which are generally done via email).

Original poster

AllTheBestNamesWereTaken · 23/03/2023 08:54

@daretodenim Yes those have been my thoughts too about full body language and about online working for some lighter therapies, e.g. counselling to provide a listening ear to somebody going through a hard time. I’ve tried other approaches but feel like I need something more specialist now to get to the bottom of exactly what is going on. I’m quite surprised actually that this person is so willing to work online and wonder whether it’s more to fit in with their own childcare commitments than believing this is optimal (does that sound terribly cynical?).

@mynameiscalypso Goodness, you go more than once a week?

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