‘Online Mental Health’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 6

Our new resident Consulting Psychologist now has his own regular column: Ask the Psychologist. If you’re looking for feedback on a relationship, worried about a friend or family member, or just curious about something you’ve always wanted to ask a psychologist, Dr Carver is here to listen and offer you some thoughts.

How long does it take to complete one million words of online counselling and online therapy? If you’re Managing Editor Greg Mulhauser, it apparently takes a little less than 3 years. A few weeks ago, the total volume of counselling emails between Mulhauser and his clients surpassed one million words — apparently making Mulhauser the first online practitioner in the history of the field to document this volume of individual online therapeutic work.

Is the amount of time you spend online impacting negatively on your well-being? According to the first nationwide study attempting to quantify ‘internet addiction’ in the general population, between 6 percent and 14 percent of computer users say they spend too much time with online activities, to the detriment of work, relationships, and even food and sleep.

The BACP has asked that individual practitioners’ names be removed from an article published on this site which recounted the details of a violation of client confidentiality by a group of online therapists. While throwing out the majority of claims in a complaint brought by those individuals, and recognizing that the publisher of this site was ethically bound to challenge the incompetence or malpractice of other practitioners, the BACP has deemed that the publisher erred by individually naming those responsible for the violation.

Sometimes online therapists violate the confidentiality of their clients — and sometimes the field lacks adequate protections for the well-being of those clients. That, unfortunately, is one conclusion of an article we published recounting the facts of how a group of six self-proclaimed ‘experts’ in online therapy exposed confidential client information on a major web portal. The BACP has upheld our decision to publish this information, provided that the identifying details of relevant professional bodies and those responsible for violating client confidentiality are removed.