Technology has brought amazing changes to how mental health services can be accessed. Online Mental Health Services or “telehealth” is one of the most exciting changes. Using online communication you can connect to your therapist in the comfort of your home or office, no commute, no fuss, no bother. Online sessions are a great mix with in person sessions when you can’t get to the office or you can use online therapy for the entire course of treatment. At The Hecht Ribas Group, we’ve successfully used telehealth to conduct mental health and bio psycho social evaluations and to provide psychotherapy to patients all over the world. Clinical Research has demonstrated that telehealth is as effective or for some folks even more effective than traditional in office setting.
We’re always happy to have folks come to the offices in Westchester, NY or Beverly Hills, CA but if those locations don’t work for you and you are interested in online therapy, you can set up an appointment with any of our clinicians. Your first session is a consultation to see if you and the therapist you choose are a good fit. If you decide not to continue or the therapist feels that they aren’t the right person to meet your needs, the session is free so there is no risk to getting started and giving it a try.
We currently see individual patients and couples online who are California, Florida or New York residents and patients who travel and/ or live internationally. We also will see patients online who are residents in other USA states, but please contact us so we can check out the law specific for your state for Online therapy.
Assessing the effectiveness of online therapy:
Andersson, G., & Cuijpers, P. (2009). Internet-based and other computerized psychological treatments for adult depression: A meta-analysis. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 38(4), 196-205. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20183695
Barak, Azy, et al. (2008). A comprehensive review and a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of internet-based psychotherapeutic interventions. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 26.2-4: 109-160. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15228830802094429#.VI8vaCvF_hs
Nagel, D. (2011). The future of online therapy. Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, Washington, D.C. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/e561872012-001
Neimark, G. Patients and text messaging: A boundary issue. (2009). The American Journal of Psychiatry. 166(11), 1298-1299. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09071012
Wantland, D. J., Portillo, C. J., Holzemer, W. L., Slaughter, R., & McGhee, E. M. (2004). The effectiveness of Web-based vs. non-Web-based interventions: a meta-analysis of behavioral change outcomes. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 6(4). http://www.jmir.org/2004/4/e40/
