Internet Counseling

Are there any opportunities for psychological help on the Internet?

Psychological help in the network - now the case is very common ... The Internet field unites ununited and gives us many opportunities to meet. In a secure format. With those who are very close. With those who are very far away.

Meeting a client with a therapist in the network is a special genre. It has its advantages and disadvantages.

In real life, the meeting between the client and the therapist has several conditions, which are both the resources and the limitations of their contact:

1. It is necessary to find a real place for the meeting
2. The client can not keep complete confidentiality before the therapist - he comes to a meeting, the therapist sees, listens, feels
3. Other people find it easier to find out that a person goes to psychotherapy - especially in small towns, where "everything is all" in sight
4. The client must choose a therapist from those who live and work in his habitat - the city or another locality
5. The therapeutic contact is greatly assisted by mutual visual and audio perception of each other - bodily postures, gestures, facial expressions, timbre of voice, pauses and accelerations of speech, the rhythm of breathing

The therapy of exchange of letters in the Internet field gives the following "bonuses" and restrictions in this contact:

1. It is possible to leave "on communication", being in a comfortable and safe habitual situation
2. You can maintain complete confidentiality before the therapist, if this is one of the important safety labels for the contact for the client
3. You can hide from your even the closest associates that you turned for psychotherapeutic support
4. You can choose a therapist from any city or country - only the ignorance of the language or the cost of services can limit
5. Therapeutic contact occurs only on the verbal level, so the contact becomes more symbolic and rational than the "live conversations" in the office.

I've been on the network for about six years. From my own experience I can say the following:

1. When a client decides to issue his request in writing, or describe an actual problem for himself, he does a great and important job for himself. He puts his inner feelings "on paper". This gives him the opportunity to see his experience and the problem "as if" from the outside. Thus, even before the therapeutic response, the client "facilitates" his experience.
2. The format of the letter is usually specified by the working contract and is equal to or less than 2 pages in the 12th font. This restriction is also quite resource for the client, because implies a certain work to structure the thoughts and emotions caused by the emotionally charged situation.
3. The therapist, reading the received material, defines, on what at the present moment the experience of the client is focused. And, relying on his life and professional experience, to a large extent "takes" his experiences. Often, for the relief of pain, taking meaningful Another to your suffering and emotions becomes a great support and relief of your "burden".
4. The first stage of work can be aimed at diagnosing the habitual values and life scenarios of the client. Answering questions of the therapist, the client makes an "inventory" of his life experience. Such work is always productive on the whole. Understanding the event series from the point "here and now" is the way to increase awareness of your usual thoughts - feelings - actions - reactions, the first approach to adjusting the perception of your reality.
5. In his answers, the therapist tries to draw the client's attention to the opportunities and resources that are currently closed to the client by his emotional state or personal attitudes.
6. Thus, the client has the opportunity to meet new experiences in an environment of supportive human and therapeutic contact. Such a meeting expands the possibilities of perceiving one's reality. Confirms the values of individuality. Gives support "here and now." "Revitalizes" the picture of the world. That is the resource for the desired changes and personal growth of the client.
7. To work with the problem in the Internet field it is desirable to exchange at least 7-9 letters. In this case the therapist can ask questions, and the client, relying on his experience and looking at the therapist's experience, can try to answer them - first of all, for himself. For this, the format of the work in a closed forum is good.
8. This genre is more clearly structured and "predetermined" than therapy in reality. On the one hand, this requires the therapist to be very sensitive and careful in choosing the possible directions for researching the problematics and the life scenario of the client. On the other hand - especially in dealing with dependency problems - gives the client a lot of structure and opportunities to rely on the therapist for the first stages of therapy.
9. Like any work in the adult world, therapy on the network must be paid by the client. This helps keep the border of therapeutic interaction. Includes adult client resources. Ensures complete confidentiality of working interaction. Eliminates the client from the feeling that he "loads" someone with his problems. And gives the therapist the opportunity to maintain a comfortable standard of living for him to work fully in the interests of the client.

Therapeutic meeting in real time - consultation on Skype - has a number of its advantages.

Since the work takes place in the dialogue mode, there is a greater possibility of spontaneity in determining and selecting the figures and areas of discussion. Also there is an opportunity to investigate pauses and stops in communication. Speech in the dialogue, as a rule, is less thoughtful and structured than in the letter, which allows you to meet with the client's emotions more.

I want to say one more thing - in my opinion, Internet counseling can become such ... a soft and safe entrance into the profession of a psychotherapist. The beginning of any new activity is always accompanied by an increase in anxiety. And psychotherapy - when I work myself, rely on myself, use my thoughts - feelings as the main tool - significantly multiplies these anxieties. And here is the distance between the therapist and the client, and the opportunity at any time to "audit" the materials of therapy, and reliance, first of all, on cognitive resources can be a good support.

By the way about getting professional support in the network - namely about supervision. In the network, as in real life, the main task of supervision is to help the therapist cope with his current personal and professional limitations. In a priceless, supportive key. I participated in a group supervisory program to work with clients' letters. This is a valuable experience. I want to give an example. The client wrote that she gave birth to a child and under the pressure of circumstances left him in the hospital. The letter was filled with shame and pain. How can you support a person in such a situation? When itself - from its parent part - do you have a completely definite attitude to this act? On the supervisory team, we offered this answer: she gave her child life. She made the most important choice precisely when she refused to abort her. And leaving the child in the hospital, she gave him the chance to be adopted into a family, in which he will be accepted as a native. I hope that the client was able to take this support ...

A couple of bonus supervisions in the network - you are as clearly as possible formulate your request. You state it "on paper". And this - as in the case with the client's request - is a valuable work for awareness.

And the supervisor can be chosen without a "binding to the terrain" of his or her residence ... Which greatly expands the possibilities of obtaining professional help.

How to choose a therapist on the Internet? Go to the personal page of the therapist. Look at his photo. Read the archive of consultations published on its website. If there is a forum on the therapeutic resource - read how he expresses himself, focuses on what topics he avoids. And listen to yourself - this person you could trust?

Author - Irina Lopatuhina

Psychologist, Gestalt therapist

Website: lopatuhina.ru