9 Observations About the Practice and Process of Online Therapy, Part 6

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Louise Young for feedback and reflections which helped refine many of the ideas offered here.

References

APA (1997) APA Statement on Services By Telephone, Teleconferencing, and Internet. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://www.apa.org/ethics/stmnt01.html.

Bond, T. (2002) Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Rugby: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Chechele, P.J. & G. Stoffle (2003) Individual therapy online via email and Internet Relay Chat. In S. Goss & K. Anthony (Eds.), Technology in Counselling and Psychotherapy, 39-58. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Christensen, H., K.M. Griffiths & A. Korten (2002) Web-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Analysis of Site Usage and Changes in Depression and Anxiety Scores. Journal of Medical Internet Research 4(1), e3. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://www.jmir.org/2002/1/e3/index.htm.

Day, S.X. & P.L. Schneider (2000) The subjective experiences of therapists in face-to-face, video, and audio sessions. In J.W. Bloom & G.R. Walz (Eds.), Cybercounseling and cyberlearning: strategies and resources for the new millennium, 203-218. Alexandria, Virginia: American Counseling Association.

Day, S.X. & P.L. Schneider (2002) Psychotherapy Using Distance Technology: A Comparison of Face-to-Face, Video and Audio Treatment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 499-503.

ISMHO (2000) ISMHO Suggested Principles for the Online Provision of Mental Health Services. International Society for Mental Health Online. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://www.ismho.org/suggestions.html.

Kane, B. & D.Z. Sands (1998) Guidelines for the Clinical Use of Electronic Mail With Patients. Journal of the American Medial Informatics Association, 5(1). Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://www.amia.org/pubs/other/email_guidelines.html.

Kiesler, S., J. Siegel & T.W. McGuire (1984) Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 1123-1134.

Lambert, M.J. (Ed.) (2004) Bergin and Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Lewis, J., D. Coursol & K.H. Wahl (2004) Researching the cybercounseling process: A study of the client and counselor experience. In J.W. Bloom & G.R. Walz (Eds.), Cybercounseling & Cyberlearning: An Encore, 307-325. Alexandria, Virginia: American Counseling Association.

Mitchell, D.L. & L.J. Murphy (2004) E-mail Rules! Organizations and Individuals Creating Ethical Excellence in Telemental-Health. In J.W. Bloom & G.R. Walz (Eds.), Cybercounseling & Cyberlearning: An Encore, 203-217. Alexandria, Virginia: American Counseling Association.

Mulhauser, G.R. (2005a) How Much Online Therapy Really Goes On? Part 1. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://counsellingresource.com/features/archives/2005/online-mental-health/online-therapy-quantity-1/.

Mulhauser, G.R. (2005b) How Much Online Therapy Really Goes On? Part 2. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://counsellingresource.com/features/archives/2005/online-mental-health/online-therapy-quantity-2/.

NBCC (2001) The Practice of Internet Counseling. National Board for Certified Counselors and Center for Credentialing and Education. Retrieved 19 September 2005: http://www.nbcc.org/webethics2.

Rowling, J.K. (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. London: Bloomsbury.

Samaritans (2005) Samaritans Statistics. Retrieved 19 September 2005: from http://www.samaritans.org/know/samaritans_stats_popup.shtm.

Tallman, K. & A.C. Bohart (1999) The Client as a Common Factor: Clients as Self-Healers. In M.A. Hubble, B.L. Duncan & S.D. Miller (Eds.), The Heart & Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy, 91-131. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

---

[1] Ratios reflect 3-month average 'reach per million' as of 19 September 2005 for CounsellingResource.com (10.5), bacp.co.uk (4.4), samaritans.org (3.65), nhsdirect.nhs.uk (74), and apa.org (96.5).

[2] All clients mentioned have given explicit written consent to be directly quoted for this paper.

[3] BACP does not feature here: unlike the Ethical Framework, access to the organization's suggestions in this area is restricted to members only.

[4] For example, some therapists apparently now believe -- erroneously, in my view -- that the technological step of using encryption equals the ethical step of safeguarding client confidentiality. Mitchell and Murphy -- themselves encryption software vendors -- have gone so far as to assert that practitioners are ethically required to use encryption when communicating with clients and that it is unethical for a practitioner even to publish what they call a "regular e-mail address" (Mitchell & Murphy, 2004, p. 208).