[DelusionsDaily]

Has anyone ever done therapy via email? How well does it work out?

I'm seriously considering this as I want a Christian therapist but there aren't any affordable around me. I want to find someone who better understands my struggles with being bisexual within the context of my faith. But thought I'd come on here and see if anyone has done it before.

[winter4me]

My last T. and I did that for a while. I found it helpful. He had difficulty with not "seeing" me as part of being able to assess etc. I would do it again. It was my idea as I had transportation and work-time issues at the time.

[ScrewedUpMe]

I have done it in the past and it did work surprisingly well. I would send long emails and get a lengthy reply back with suggestions on how to go forward and what to think about for the next time I emailed. It didn't quite work out for me as I was also seeing my normal therapist at the same time, which I shouldn't have been doing. But on it's own, it was good therapy. I guess it would depend on the therapist but the one I had was used to working this way so she was very good at giving detailed responses answering all my concerns. I would say definitely worth giving it a try. Good luck!

[tinyrabbit]

Personally, I've found my T's physical presence is really important, because if you email, you miss all sorts of non-verbal and unconscious signals. Bear in mind just 7% of our communication is verbal. The rest is in tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions and other things we're not even aware of. That, and you won't get the experience of having someone listen to you and hear you.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try it. Just things to think about.

[precious things]

The positive part is that the emails and words are in print in front of you, makes it easy to reference when you go back in your mind to re-process a session. I would say it is incredibly important to find a T that meets your criteria and needs (for you, this means supporting your religion and sexuality).

I think email could be great but I wouldn't want the T so far away that it would be virtually impossible to hold an in-person session.

My xT and my current T are both Christian counselors. Even though when I called and asked their fees or if their fees where listed on website, etc. there was not mention of it, they both had sliding scale fees. Did you consider asking about that? Also, sometimes churches will refer you to a counselor that their church uses a lot and may contribute to your fees. My xT website talks about churches referring and says that there is still confidentiality as what is discussed in session is not disclosed to church...

just some ideas since I had nothing to contribute regarding email counseling.

I did and still do email therapy and have found it very useful, especially becuase I find it difficult to talk about things in person so writing it down helps me a lot. I find that after a face to face session I forget everything as soon as I walk out the door but with email therapy I can refer back to it whenever I like.
My t happens to be very good at it too, sometimes I can read her response quickly and think it is very uncaring but then I will read it again later and realise that I picked up totally the wrong way- this is something to be aware of...misconception.