That was one of the main concerns. Robert Bowman Betterhelp…that was really crucial to me as a psychologist was that I would have autonomy over what I discussed what what topics I picked to provide and also you know my own views when when required or appropriate to share them and I was granted that by a better help they generally said you understand we trust you as a scientific professional and we’re gon na trust you to go out there and talk about what you understand and one of the important things that I really wanted to address is the truth that I’m not just here to state that online treatment is the answer for whatever you understand I think it can be exceptionally handy for many people I’ve seen it myself dealing with individuals from a few months up to over a year and I seen how being able to message and likewise have video sessions with somebody is really a it practically improves the the healing experience in a way at the same time I have a private practice where I see people in person and I thoroughly enjoy that and there
are individuals that I see there that I wouldn’t think about seeing online either they wouldn’t be appropriate we would not have the ability to do the level and depth of work we’re doing or it just would not feel comfortable and and that’s all right those 2 things can both hold true and I think among the things that I want to start to have individuals think about is there’s a place for both online and offline therapy it is really a matter of you know choosing what’s right for you however also what’s most appropriate for you with the help of an expert when I speak about certain counseling designs or approaches as being appropriate for you what I indicate by that is that it would be the best approach for the particular issue that you’re dealing with and I think that a person of the issues that a lot of individuals have is that online therapy is attempting to change offline counseling and I can inform you 100% that that’s not real I have actually had numerous discussions with the creator of better help where he has pointed out that his audience isn’t to compete with physical practices or put psychologists or certified specialists out of business his objective is to offer mental health access to the people who aren’t going to enter the treatment office and I 100% support that objective and I believe it’s important and we have a problem with access to psychological health care in this country and
betterhelp controversy
better hope is one option as our other online business I was discussing previously that there are things that I personally think that online treatment is more appropriate for or offline treatment is better suited for and I’ve actually I’ve really spoken about this in other settings since it is something I feel quite passionate about and I have to say that my viewpoint has been well-received by companies like better help in regards to ideally how they how they work with individuals that present for care so I just wanted to invest a number of minutes talking about my own is my own individual opinion about the important things that are most appropriate for offline versus online treatment so in my view I see online therapy as a fantastic place for individuals who are battling with challenging life transitions for scenarios where they’re experiencing more stress than typical for circumstances where you understand they have a very specific concern with stress and anxiety or social anxiety and a treatment like cognitive behavioral therapy which is very structured can can benefit them which treatment because it’s not as social as others is best for online counseling because it includes a great deal of homework it includes worksheets it includes discovering specific skills and techniques so mild milder disorders like moderate stress and anxiety mild depression change disorders even PTSD as long as like the person has gotten care initially elsewhere these are all things that can be addressed through online therapy you know think of somebody who has a agoraphobia and possibly they reach out to a therapist from their house due to the fact that they can’t leave their home and just just to clarify agoraphobia is a disorder where people are really horrified of being trapped and trapped in a location where they may have a panic attack and so essentially they start to limit their activities and restrict their activities till much of them can’t leave their home without really feeling significant distress so if somebody like that is at home and they can connect through their computer and link to a counselor that’s a fantastic initial step is that going to cure them absolutely not since agoraphobia to be effectively treated needs that person to be able to go outdoors and to resume normal activities and often that includes a therapist going to their home to help them with that procedure certainly online counselors are going to have the ability to do that but could they be the bridge that got that individual who’s afraid to leave their house from that preliminary encouraging method to counseling where they can actually have a better life 100% and this is what the space that better help aims to fill with their services my point to this to this specific video and bringing these things
up is that I I want to plainly communicate that anything that I share with you is going to be completely from where I stand as an expert psychologist and more importantly what I think is as simply a human being on this earth attempting to do the very best that I can and so I I won’t tell you that something is appropriate that I do not think is appropriate I will not show you that online counseling is the cure-all for whatever because I don’t believe that and so you can constantly expect to hear my honest viewpoint on what I think from my own experience and knowledge base as a licensed psychologist I hope you discovered this video fascinating and handy if you did please like it below and feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel where we’re going to be producing a growing number of videos on a range of various psychological health subjects and please connect if there’s something specific you would like us to cover or attend to in an approaching video