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therapy by online app
America has been in a mental health crisis for many years. Studies have shown increased distress due to depression, anxiety, and substance use. Suicide rates are rising, and the frequency of alcohol and drug overdoses is alarming. New assaults on our wellbeing and health are omnipresent.
The pandemic made all of this worse! Forced isolation, fear, and misinformation led to a historic rise in need for mental health services and people seeking help. At the same time, telehealth became an acceptable treatment delivery system and we all learned how to do more things online, including work, school, and medical care. The healthcare and mental health systems became overwhelmed by those seeking care and without enough providers to meet the need.
Enter the Capitalist. Seeing an opportunity, new venture capital-funded companies arose and massively advertised online therapy apps. These include Betterhelp, Talkspace, Teledoc, Cerebral, and many more. These offer online therapy for a fee and are profit-driven. Most operate in the self-pay space but some work with insurance. They are offering many forms of therapy and use of creative deliveries and options.
This has opened access for many people not able to access traditional private mental health services. However, there are serious concerns about standards, privacy, ethical issues, and quality control.
For example, how do you know which apps offer the best quality and most ethical treatment? These apps mostly rely on the online rating system reviews, which as we all know are fraught with difficulties and problems. Reviews are extremely susceptible to fakes, embellishment and unreliability. Many psychotherapy researchers are concerned with quality control and the corporations designing these apps are ethically dubious in most cases. It is unclear as to how well the therapists have been vetted and there may be questions about clinician training and competency.
Privacy and confidentiality are also risks involved with online therapy apps. Digital health apps fall into a gray area in terms of HIPAA guidelines and they are not held to the same standards as other mental health professionals. Some apps do not have adequate password protection nor proper methods of identification and verification. There can be privacy concerns on either end. Additionally, tech companies are notorious for harvesting consumer data to sell to other companies or to help target a particular audience for advertising. Some mental health apps may be tracking and commercializing your information.
Online therapy apps may not be appropriate for all clients. For example, mental health apps should not be considered for severe mental illness or crisis situations. Therapists in private practice are better suited and more clinically appropriate in these cases. They are available to see clients in-person and offer individualized, specialized care. Accessibility to care in crisis situations is questionable with the apps.
Although therapy apps do have potential to fill a niche and improve access to mental health care, they are full of potential risks, as well. In my opinion, it is just too early and there are just too many unregulated, untested, and uncontrolled aspects of these apps. Additionally, it has the potential to do great harm to the therapy profession.
If you are considering using a therapy app, be careful. There are just too many unknowns at this point.
Timothy Re, PsyDLicensed Clinical Psychologist
The pandemic made all of this worse! Forced isolation, fear, and misinformation led to a historic rise in need for mental health services and people seeking help. At the same time, telehealth became an acceptable treatment delivery system and we all learned how to do more things online, including work, school, and medical care. The healthcare and mental health systems became overwhelmed by those seeking care and without enough providers to meet the need.
Enter the Capitalist. Seeing an opportunity, new venture capital-funded companies arose and massively advertised online therapy apps. These include Betterhelp, Talkspace, Teledoc, Cerebral, and many more. These offer online therapy for a fee and are profit-driven. Most operate in the self-pay space but some work with insurance. They are offering many forms of therapy and use of creative deliveries and options.
This has opened access for many people not able to access traditional private mental health services. However, there are serious concerns about standards, privacy, ethical issues, and quality control.
For example, how do you know which apps offer the best quality and most ethical treatment? These apps mostly rely on the online rating system reviews, which as we all know are fraught with difficulties and problems. Reviews are extremely susceptible to fakes, embellishment and unreliability. Many psychotherapy researchers are concerned with quality control and the corporations designing these apps are ethically dubious in most cases. It is unclear as to how well the therapists have been vetted and there may be questions about clinician training and competency.
Privacy and confidentiality are also risks involved with online therapy apps. Digital health apps fall into a gray area in terms of HIPAA guidelines and they are not held to the same standards as other mental health professionals. Some apps do not have adequate password protection nor proper methods of identification and verification. There can be privacy concerns on either end. Additionally, tech companies are notorious for harvesting consumer data to sell to other companies or to help target a particular audience for advertising. Some mental health apps may be tracking and commercializing your information.
Online therapy apps may not be appropriate for all clients. For example, mental health apps should not be considered for severe mental illness or crisis situations. Therapists in private practice are better suited and more clinically appropriate in these cases. They are available to see clients in-person and offer individualized, specialized care. Accessibility to care in crisis situations is questionable with the apps.
Although therapy apps do have potential to fill a niche and improve access to mental health care, they are full of potential risks, as well. In my opinion, it is just too early and there are just too many unregulated, untested, and uncontrolled aspects of these apps. Additionally, it has the potential to do great harm to the therapy profession.
If you are considering using a therapy app, be careful. There are just too many unknowns at this point.
Timothy Re, PsyDLicensed Clinical Psychologist