Quote:
Originally Posted by owlpride
As a rule of thumb, I would probably choose an experienced therapist in private practice, rather than go to an online agency with fresh-out-of-grad-school therapists.
Websites keep up to 50% of the fees you pay for online therapy. If their services are cheap to begin with, and the therapists only get to keep part of that fee, they really don't earn very much. Why would a skilled therapist agree to that when they could earn much more in private practice?
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The thing is- your initial post sets up a false dilemma, which is a logical fallacy: two of them actually, first that the choice is between an inexperienced, lacking in credibility therapist versus an experienced established one. That's not the choice. The choice is between equally qualified professionals online and in person. No one's advocating for underqualified, fly-by-night operations. The second is that skilled therapists earn more in private practice, which isn't true of the entire demographic to which I referred, or that qualified therapists wouldn't be lured by the benefits of working from home or working online in general. More and more practitioners are willing to see clients via Skype while still maintaining an office.
Buyer beware, certainly, but those same things occur with interns and new practitioners in the office setting, exactly the same scenario, very commonly. It's important, as mentioned in my initial post, to seek an excellent, experienced, clearly, verifiably licensed practitioner. I wouldn't consider a random sounding site like mytherapist.com, but browse somewhere like LivePerson for example, but above all, as I mentioned, search for an individual who's a good fit, just as in real life.
I wasn't recommending the internet for rock bottom pricing, my own therapist charges $100 an hour, but that's a bargain given her qualifications and experience. Working online just has a lot less overhead in some cases, so I wouldn't say it's all about cheap sessions, but about reasonable pricing, particularly useful for those who maybe don't have great insurance, a convenient location, or want the other pros I initially listed.
I agree about not choosing inexperienced, unverifiable individuals as therapists, but that's exactly the same recommendation in person as via phone or internet. I understand though, your wariness of online service providers, it is important to be a careful consumer, but it's increasingly easy with licensing verification and such.
Of course online therapy won't work for everyone, and if someone has great insurance, they can often get a better deal than paying out of pocket. It's not the McDonald's of therapy, certainly.