Yes!!!

I think that online treatment would be good for almost everything. The few exceptions would be emergencies and suicide crisis where a psychologist would probably be able to assess the situation better in a face to face session.

Some believe it would be hard to treat long term psychological conditions online. What you you think?

Strange?

I'm not sure really....

I'm thinking long term conditions would need RL contact, but it might be useful to have an online aspect to it

Online treatment might not be the best thing for agoraphobia for example, but it could be useful in the beginning

I think that online treatment would also be great for bringing people that might otherwise not seek help into contact with a psychologist. This might also be an in between step toward face to face therapy. What do you think?

I think you need to whittle down to your target market.

Sounds like you want to target country folk, who may or may not have access to things like broadband.

I'm worried that they might not be used to going online for certain things. Sure, I don't have any stats to back me up, but judging by my adoption of online tools, and of those around me, you don't  look for stuff online unless you are very comfortable doing so, or someone you trust keeps steering you in that direction.

What are the things that need to be in place for someone who won't go to RL counselling to adopt an online means?

In my opinion:

1. Awareness (of the service)
2. Tools
3. (THE BIG ONE) The drive to seek help online
2008-06-01 21:23:24.0

Am I judging things based on personal experience too much?

I agree with you points,  but I think the need is a bit broader than you think.

Awareness is primarily a marketing exercise. In the first instance it will likely be through GPs, Health professionals
and Psychologists. Once awareness is raised then more broad marketing will be appropriate.

Something that we found in our early research was that many professionals who travel a lot may be able to use an online tool to keep in touch with their pyschologist when they are on the move for work.

Tools, I say keep it simple. Chat as a starting point should be easy enough to get considerable reach with limited bandwidth.  Many psychologists across the globe use this successfully right now.

In terms of seeking help online, you should do a search on anxiety or depression on Facebook. You will see how many people are seeking help (from each other!) It is huge!

That's interesting.... from what you say above, it sounds more like you're providing the tools for people to keep in touch with an existing therapist, as opposed to coming online and starting the therapy?

I think this depends on the type of online counseling and if you believe there is a difference between face to face or online counseling.  If your counselor can give you the same respect and privacy online than why not.  The way to know if a site is secure is by noticing an "s" after http.  If the site is secure meaning 128 bit encypted, then it is better than if a therapist is just using an unsecure chat.

Hey how is everyone doing?

Heya Beauty!