Dec
15
Phone Therapy: How Well Does It Work?
Filed Under Emotional Healing, Life Coaching, Mental Healing, Stress Remedies
One of the new modalities for Distance Counseling and Distance Psychotherapy is phone therapy. Those who have used phone therapy — client and therapist, alike — report that it is convenient, time-saving (no to-the-office commute), AND effective!
According to University of Cambridge researchers, phone therapy might be even-more effective than face-to-face treatment. These clinical experimenters compared the outcomes of more than 39,000 British adults, suffering from anxiety disorder and from moderate-to-mild depression. These were all adults who had been treated through England’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies program. This program is a national initiative whose purpose is to allow more people access to non-medical, low-intensity therapies.
Findings were different for those with the most severe symptoms and those with moderate-to-mild symptoms. For those with moderate-to-mild anxiety and depression, phone therapy was reported to have provided as much if not more benefit for recipients, when compared to counterparts who were given in-person therapy. The study also showed telephone therapy to be less expensive a form of treatment.
The concept of phone therapy has recently been addressed by the American Psychological Association. As conceptualized by APA staff member, Psychologist Ronald Palomares, Ph.D., “Telepsychology provides lots of avenues and venues to be able to make it easier and effective for our clients to obtain psychological services.”