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Online Therapy Paper

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Online Therapy Paper
BSHS 352
Professor Joyce Henderson
University of Phoenix Online

Introduction Therapy can be a client's greatest force in gaining control of their issues and over their life in general. Normally it is been seen as a counseling session held in the privacy of a professional's office with an appointment in the book. In recent years therapy has gone high-tech and taken to the internet. There are several reasons for this including; convenience, cost effectiveness and time management. Online therapy has added many opportunities for clients and professionals alike. On the web today there are a countless amounts of online therapy organizations available for anyone and everyone to take advantage of if needed. To gain knowledge the ins and outs of online therapy we will look further into some of these online therapy organizations, what they offer, to whom they serve, the rights of clients, obligations of the professional, ethical and security issues, and last but least the advantages and disadvantages to online therapy.
Examination of Online Websites The Online Therapy organization is focused around helping anyone and almost any issue possible. The website covers all issues that range from weight loss, depression, insomnia, relationships and more (Online-therapy.com, 2011). It offers 8 week step by step online sessions as well as daily feedback from the professional, live support, chat forum to communicate with others, and tests to monitor progress along the way. Anyone can receive this service for two hundred dollars for the 8 weeks. The Therapy Online organization focuses on helping clients and providing continued education and research opportunities to professionals in the therapy field (Therapyonline.com, 2011). Located on the home page of the website is information about why online therapy should be considered over conventional therapy. This kind of advertising is a good way to entice people to try online therapy, allowing them to see reasons they themselves might have not thought about. Therapy Online uses TherapEmail sessions to correspond with the clients; these are communications that typically last 50 minutes per session. Given the amount of time the client and professional are able to go further in depth about the client’s issues and find solutions. Therapy Online charges clients eighty-five dollars an hour for their services. ETherapists Online is a website that focuses on providing many different services to all types of clients. They use private real time chat counseling, over the phone counseling, and email sessions to communicate with clients (eTherapistsonline.com, 2010). ETherapists Online offer something that was not noticed on the other websites, therapists as well as psychiatrists were available for counseling sessions. Typically psychiatrists are able to prescribe medications but due to the fact that they are dealing with people online they are not allowed to do so when participating in online therapy. The act of doing so is unethical and not allowed. Also listed on the website was an online store with recommended reading books that could help clients in their area of need. Each of the three websites that were examined all had notable differences. Each offered services that might have the same goal of helping their clients but had different ways of doing so. They all offered different information to the clients and professionals alike. After all of this many similarities were also noticed. All of these websites posted in bold wording that they only serve people who are over the age of eighteen and most importantly would only serve people who were found to be non-suicidal. They encouraged anyone that may be feeling this way to find help in their area as soon as possible. All three websites also stated that any and all communication with clients was confidential and was kept so by using secure web based encryptions. Even if therapy is used online clients still have the same rights as conventional therapy and should have the same expectations with it. Clients have the right to privacy, informed consent, and confidentiality as well as the right to any disclosures, to inspect, and receive copies of their sessions.
Obligations of the Professional Whether a therapy professional is working in an office or an online website with a client the obligation of the professional to the client is no different. All professionals must follow ethical guidelines to help protect clients from any type of harm. They must also ensure that clients receive proper and lawful care. The professional has to keep any and all identifying information of the client private and confidential. They have to inform all clients of the duties that will be performed and all private practices.
Ethical and Security Issues Issues of ethical and security matter are of the upmost importance, especially when it comes to communicating via the internet with clients. In order to ensure that all online therapy practices are ethical websites hold associations with boards like; the American Counseling Association, the Association for Counseling & Therapy Online, the National Board for Certified Counselors, and the American Psychological Association Services by Telephone, Teleconferencing, and Internet. All of these associations provide ethic codes that are followed by online therapy websites. Keeping personal information and communications confidential plays a huge part of online therapy and its’ success. Online websites like the three that were examined all use special software to ensure the security level of their websites is kept at an all-time high. All of these websites use encrypted emails that are scrambled and encoded from the time they leave the clients computer till they are received by the professional. This is done in case they do not reach their destination or are received by others, the information would not be able to be accessed. If security levels are not met and information not kept private online therapy would not be successful and would be shut down for not following set laws and requirements.
Advantages and Disadvantages There are always two sides to every story and that is no different with online therapy. The advantages of online therapy include; offers flexible time schedules, availability of professionals, can email from home, at work or on the go, provide an outlet for those with physical limitations or fear of going out in public to a professionals office. All of the listed advantages can make a huge difference to clients especially those in difficult situations. Some of the disadvantages of online therapy include; the face to face bond with communication is not an option, there can be time limits with the price like with Online Therapy organization which only offers 8 consecutive week therapy sessions for two hundred dollars, and the internet cannot always be reliable since it runs on power. Whatever the advantages or disadvantages that is up to the discretion of the client and their needs.
Conclusion
Online therapy can be a great tool for the right clients to use and should be advertised more widely throughout our society. In today’s world we are people of convenience and effectiveness, both that are attributes offered with online therapy. Anyone looking to use this tool should be encouraged to do so but with caution, any website should be research and validated for legitimacy before paying for services private in matter. Ultimately the decision to use online therapy should be up to the potential client. They should be able to evaluate their needs against the advantages and disadvantages to ensure the right decision is being made that will best meet their goals.

Reference Page

eTherapistsonline.com. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.etherapistsonline.com/
Online-therapy.com. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.online-therapy.com/about_us.php
Therapyonline. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.therapyonline.ca/security.asp

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