Telehealth has been gaining massive popularity over the past few years, with many companies offering their healthcare services online.
One of the fields that’s blooming in the telehealth market is counseling. The main driver of this traction is the privacy that online therapy provides, as well as its convenience.
In this article, we will briefly cover the top five benefits of attending therapy through telehealth.
Top 5 benefits of attending therapy through telehealth
Convenience
When we are dealing with a mental health issue, it might be difficult to seek the help of a therapist because we’re afraid of being judged by our families, friends, and even society. And while this is not a valid excuse, telehealth can still make your life easier.
If you’ve ever thought, “ugh, I wish I can get treatment without having to visit a therapist.”, now you can.
The convenience of telehealth resides in the fact that you can do this from the comfort of your home and during the time that suits you.
Moreover, you won’t feel judged by anyone since you’ll get the highest standards of privacy.
Fewer chances of missing an appointment
After a few sessions, you will realize how important psychological therapy is. However, there might be some obstacles in the way.
For instance, you just finished work and you feel exhausted. You decide to push through it and go meet your therapist, only to find a horrific traffic jam that prevents you from making it in time.
Situations like these can all be avoided if you’re getting your therapy via video conference, which you can do from your office, home, or anywhere.
Flexibility
This benefit falls in the same category as the previous one.
If you have the tendencies to overwork and put your career as a priority, receiving therapy might not make it on your to-do list.
Telehealth provides the perfect alternative to conventional therapy.
You can get counseling whenever you have some free time, which can be adjusted on a daily basis. Moreover, you can talk with your therapist about your work hours, so you can work out a plan for future sessions.
Time-efficiency
Getting counseling from telehealth saves you a lot of time.
Let me give you an example:
You finish work at 5 PM, and you have an appointment at 6 PM. You drive to the therapist’s office, which takes you around 30 minutes with all the traffic jam. Once you’re there, you sit around waiting for 15-30 minutes until your session.
On the way back home, you’ll also spend another 30 minutes.
By doing some quick math, you’ll be spending around 75-90 minutes extra time per therapy session.
If you do your session, using the technology of telehealth, you’ll remove the extra time from the equation.
Therefore, if the therapy session is 45 minutes, you’ll be spending exactly 45 minutes of your day on this task.
Conclusion
While telehealth offers several benefits compared to conventional therapy, this doesn’t mean we should abandon the latter.
It just provides us with additional options for certain patients who cannot receive conventional therapy for any reason.
If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to ask in the comment section below.
AUTHOR
Dr. Nicole MurrayDr. Murray assists her clients in resuming their lives that have been disrupted by changes in health status. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She completed her internship and two-year fellowship at Mount Sinai-Icahn School of Medicine specializing in rehabilitation and neuropsychology. Her office is located near Grand Central.