Is Virtual Psychotherapy of Lesser Quality Than In-Person?

Is Virtual Psychotherapy of Lesser Quality Than In-Person?

Now that online therapy, or its synonyms—teletherapy, behavioral telehealth, virtual therapy, internet therapy—is widespread in the mental health field, the treatment frame is often inverted such that instead of clients visiting the therapist’s room, the therapist is visiting the client’s room, or car, or favorite neighborhood walking route. What are the privacy implications of this? How inwardly honest and honestly inward—in a sustained, engrossed way—can clients get when there is fear of random breaches in privacy?

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The Ups and Downs of Online Therapy

The Ups and Downs of Online Therapy

Almost overnight, given the Covid pandemic, therapists were compelled to make the switch to teletherapy to preserve continuity of care with their clients. The urgency of the situation dictated that we snap to it and quickly get up to speed on the latest digital platforms and alternative modes of offering therapy. There has been precious little time to reflect on the pros and cons of all this on the quality of therapy we offer. Now that the novelty has worn off and we are able to step back and analyze the situation, what does the switch to teletherapy portend for our profession?

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I'm Introverted, Not Depressed!

I'm Introverted, Not Depressed!

Elizabeth (pseudonym), a middle-aged ER nurse, sat as far apart on the couch as possible from her retiree mother, Joanne, who leaned forward and spoke with utter conviction about her daughter’s presumed depression. Mustering all the energy she could to interrupt her mother’s unbroken stream of disclosures, Elizabeth blurted out: “I’m introverted, not depressed!”

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The Woeful Underfunding of Psychotherapy by Health Insurers

The Woeful Underfunding of Psychotherapy by Health Insurers

Americans are well aware that their health insurance premiums have increased steadily in recent years. The data substantiate it. According to Mercer’s 2017 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, large employers have absorbed a 3 percent annual increase in health insurance costs over the past five years, and will be hit by a 4.3 percent increase in 2018. What people aren’t privy to is that psychotherapy reimbursement rates have been stagnant or in decline for several decades, even though insurance premiums have risen sharply. This is mystifying given that the vast majority of people afflicted with anxiety and depression prefer psychotherapy over medications, science shows it rivals or even exceeds the benefits of medications, and it yields a “medical-cost offset,” or saves insurance carriers money on avoidable medical costs.

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