Virtual Visit

I’m doing a virtual visit with my therapist this weekend. Its my first virtual one and boy do I have a lot of drama to tell. 😩 Anyone do visits this way and prefer it? I’m only doing a virtual visit because her hours are way more flexible virtually. I’ve had several visits before with her and all in person. She says that a lot of her patients prefer virtual. I don’t think I do, I guess I’m old school. I guess I’ll have to leave the house for privacy since I’ll surely be talking about relationship drama. Man I need to write down some things on paper beforehand this time if I’m using my phone for a video chat. 😛

I didn't care for virtual much myself. I did however have good luck with phone sessions - somehow it was easier for me to talk about a particular difficult subject when I couldn't see her seeing me, if that makes sense. If you end up being uncomfortable with virtual sessions, phone sessions might be something to think about. Hugs if wanted.

oh and the Frost poem in your signature is one of my favorites of his!

I always thought that I could read someone better and their expressions if I could see them, but I’ve never tried a phone call. I do hate phone calls in general lol. Times have definitely changed over the years!

I'm not sure what platform you'll be using for it, but I've found that hiding my image (I know you can do that in Zoom) really helped me, once you initially see how you look. I was virtual for a long time during the pandemic (my T took a long time to return to meeting clients his office), and I found that really helped me. It will likely feel weird at first, too.


Oh, and if you're meeting on your phone, my T has said that many clients hold it so he's basically looking up their nose--so try not to do that! Hope it works well for you.

My wife does virtual visits with the psychiatric APRN. Otherwise, everything's in person. My wife doesn't like it because she's a technophobe, but it saves me from having to miss work to drive her to another appointment.

For my own therapy, I slightly more prefer in person visits so I can avoid distractions and get more focused on my feelings. But my wife called me during a session once -- she forgot I went to therapy and thought I was shopping for her at the grocery store!

I hope you find a good location with fast Internet!

Hmm, now I'm thinking that there's a lot of subtle nonverbal communication that takes place during any encounter. I think it would be easy to "cheat" during a telehealth visit by disguising my picking disorder when we reach an uncomfortable topic.

I have phone sessions on Tuesdays and in person on Saturdays. Each have their pros and cons. Phone I'm able to freely talk because I don't have to worry about things like eye contact or how I look when I cry. But in person there are expressions and nonverbal cues. I've only been doing phone sessions on Tuesdays because eye contact via video is too intense for me right now. Otherwise, we'd be doing video.

Maybe I’ll just tape my phone to my steering wheel so it’s not too low. 😛 I’ve been also crying more in the last few weeks than I can ever remember. But it comes in bursts, and I tend to do it alone. I haven’t cried yet with my T.

Sounds like you'll be in your car, so you might be able to use rubber bands to attach the phone to the rear-view mirror.

I tried virtual sessions with an experienced psychiatrist and felt it was nothing but a scam. Every session cost me $215 cash and she didn't know what to do with me because of all of the multiple symptoms and diagnoses I have. During the first session she definitely knew I was in distress because I broke down (and she ended up telling the office staff who could have cared less). She said "I don't believe it's right to just throw a lot of pills at you right now so I'd like you to get a NeuroPsych test". Later I told her I heard of thyroid augmentation in the hospital for mood disorders and she quickly researched it during one of my "visits" and concluded that she didn't want to do it so she haphazardly decided to give me pristiq and after 4 wks I felt so horrible I had to be hospitalized at Johns Hopkins. I didn't get anywhere with her after 3 months of virtual visits! So I will never try telehealth with any mental health professional ever again!
And maybe a yr later I finally got a NeuroPsych test and that was an awful experience because the psychologist gave it to me over the computer and she didn't show an ounce of emotion when I told her what I've been thru in my life and she could have cared less. I received her 5-page summary of the test and all she did was point out my problems and said I had avoidant and schizoid personality disorders and she didn't analyze what was causing my problems one bit even after I told her I dissociated very badly in my teens/20s/30s and also developed a severe mood and anxiety disorder in my teens and that I possibly had asbergers. Her report said that I "ruin my attempts at getting better due to negative thoughts and self-doubt and that I had to rely on people and that I didn't want to be independent and that therapy failed because of lack of pleasure and motivation". Well, yeah! That's what happens when you have a severe mood disorder for most of your life! You develop anhedonia and poor energy and can't do or enjoy anything anymore! Then she went on to say that I needed to confront and challenge my anxiety with my therapist and in social situations and that I would most likely fail at doing this. So the conclusion is the report served absolutely NO purpose for anyone! Not me or any health professional involved with me. So I'll never get another one done and never go back to this place that gave it to me! The mental health system doesn't work and it's even counterproductive at times!

I prefer virtual so much over in person. It’s emotionally safe for me and it’s a much more intimate connection with my T because she sees into my world each session. She learns a lot about me by observing my surroundings.