Online or e-therapy is the process of getting therapy via platforms, websites, and apps. It’s been popular especially in the last 5 years. The last half-decade has seen an exponential adoption of online therapy amongst users. This has been possible due to the explosion of mobile tech and cheap data availability. Nowadays there is an app for everything and therapy is no different. There are many apps focused just on providing quality therapy and counseling to users. Let’s take a look at how these apps work, the benefits, and why you will love online therapy.
Most of these apps have created a communication platform and a marketplace aggregation platform. So as a user what you can do is go on these apps or websites and select a therapist of your choice from the list of available professionals and then book your session. Then you show up for your online session like you would show up for a physical face-to-face session. The communication would happen either via audio, video, or chat on the respective platform.
• Convenience
• Affordability
• Anonymity
• Choices
1)Convenience
With these platforms you can access professional therapy anytime anywhere. Ideally, you can set up times beforehand and book sessions when you know you will be breathing easy and will be able to fully focus on your sessions. This is a very big advantage.
2)Affordability
Because of the power of technology, the costs to maintain platforms and provide therapy comes down drastically. So a session that would cost you a bomb in a traditional face-to-face session would be almost half of that or even less in most online apps. Since price is one of the most important factors when considering therapy, it becomes much easier to opt for therapy due to the affordability of online therapy apps
3)Anonymity
Due to the stigma which many people still experience when thinking about therapy, they might not prefer to go and visit a therapist in person. This problem is completely down away within therapy apps. There are apps that will not take any sort of personal details of the user and so there is no question of your identity being revealed. As a user you are under complete anonymity, you can share your issues and communicate with complete openness.
4)Choices
Due to the online nature of apps, there is no restriction of geography and such on who can provide therapy. So as a user you get a very wide set of options of available professionals and you can select the one you think will best suit you. You can also try a couple of different ones to figure out which is working and then continue with that expert.
When you start online therapy, it might feel a bit different and maybe even weird if you have visited a therapist in a face-to-face setting before. If the experience is new for you then it won’t really have an impact. So you don’t have to worry in that case. Keep in mind, you can opt for video calls if you like face-to-face communication, you can opt for purely audio calls if you like just talking and not face-to-face communication. If you don’t like talking either, you can simply opt for chat therapy.
In fact, chat therapy is one of the more popular methods people use today. It is because people are generally so used to messaging apps that they prefer typing out and communicating. So the whole experience feels quite comfortable. It’s important to also note that you will not establish a rapport with your therapist on day one. Therapy is a continuous process and requires patience from your end. However, once you get deeper into the process and build a good relationship with your therapist you will start to see and feel the results in your life. You might not get results in a few days but over time it starts making a substantial difference in your life. So be patient and work on yourself along with your therapist to get the best results.
While there are so many apps out there, there are a few apps that you can try right now to get therapy. They are -
Aurum: It is the #1 emerging therapy app right now. It has to be one of the most affordable apps as far as professional therapy goes. Another plus is that you get to talk to your therapist whenever you want. So they basically give you unlimited access to your therapist once you subscribe.
Betterhelp: It has been one of the popular therapy apps in the past few years. A good app with a wide range of therapists. It is one of the leading apps in the US right now.
Meru Health: It is a great app that focuses on particular areas like depression and anxiety. If you are suffering from either of these you can try it out. It’s more relevant for people in Europe though.
My name is Amit Dhaniya, I love to write...