For those needing support for a mental health condition, online treatment can seem like a great option.
Accessing therapy and other modes of treatment from the comfort of the home via a mobile device or laptop can seem unquestionably good, but there are risks.
Individuals considering online mental health treatment need to be mindful of what this support is, what its benefits are, and what the potential dangers are of using it.
This latter point can make all the difference in protecting personal information and well-being.
To learn more about online mental health treatment and whether it can help you, give our team a call on 0800 140 4690
To begin, it’s important to understand what online mental health treatment is and what it is designed to achieve.
Misunderstanding this can lead individuals to rely on it for services it cannot provide, leaving them insufficiently supported.
Online mental health treatment refers to sessions of therapy or counselling that an individual engages with over the internet, either by video call, audio call or chat log on their phone, tablet, or laptop.
It does not include the prescription of medications, but instead focuses on guiding individuals towards healthier ways of seeing the world and behaving.
Discover how online mental health treatment can support you by giving us a call on 0800 140 4690
It isn’t difficult to imagine why online mental health treatment is an attractive option for those seeking help.
There are a range of ways in which it can seem like a more accessible and practical option for support.
The advantages of online mental health treatment are understandable, and for many this support can provide real, life-changing help.
However, recognising its benefits can help in understanding online treatment’s drawbacks.
When it comes to accessing mental health treatment, individuals are limited by what facilities are available in their local area.
This may not seem like too much of an obstacle, but those who live in remote areas, don’t drive, or have limited access to public transport can really struggle.
Online mental health treatment negates these problems.
Individuals don’t need to travel long distances to get help or worry about how they’re going to pay for the bus or train every day – they can simply open their laptop or unlock their phone.
Anyone can struggle with mental health, especially those who live with physical or mental disabilities. [1] A common rproblem these individuals face when trying to get help, however, is educed accessibility to support.
Such obstacles can take many forms. Those with physical disabilities depend on accessibility features such as lifts and ramps, and those with mental disabilities may struggle to get to and from a treatment centre without support.
Online mental health support gives individuals complete access to the help they need from the comfort and stress-free environment of their own home. This way, anyone can get support at any time of day.
Mental health services cost time and money.
While there is no way to completely avoid spending these things in order to get help, in-person therapies can be particularly time-consuming and costly, with transport needing to be factored into the equation too.
For many, life can be busy and spare cash can be tight, making the idea of mental health treatment seem too costly to consider.
When treatment is online, however, individuals can reduce their time and money costs to the bare essentials.
They can do it when returning to work without needing to factor traffic or meal times into things, and really focus on what’s important.
Lots of people who want to access mental health support struggle with anxiety and social anxiety.
It can be a debilitating condition to live with, and it can prevent individuals from physically going to appointments they want to attend.
Online treatment significantly reduces the stakes of attending support sessions.
Rather than travelling and meeting the mental health professional in person, an individual can speak with them over the phone or via a chat log without even using their voice to get support.
Do you think that online mental health treatment might be right for you? Talk about it with our team on 0800 140 4690
There’s no doubting online mental health treatment’s positives, and so many individuals can benefit from support that’s flexible and accessible.
However, these benefits can be so brilliant that individuals may miss the dangers that can arise from such easy-to-access treatment.
It’s becoming increasingly common for insurance companies to acknowledge the significance of mental health.
As well as covering treatments that help restore physical well-being, coverage plans are more commonly supporting with the payment of those that help the mind.
Online mental health treatments, however, may not be included.
Whether it’s because an online source of support isn’t a viable healthcare body, or because a mental health professional needs to be present to conduct the treatment, an insurance company may not recognise the treatment as legitimate.
Of course, individuals who rely on insurance to pay for treatment can really suffer as a result of this.
In order to access treatment, online or in-person, an individual will need to provide their personal information.
This can include their name and date of birth, or even their address and bank details. Enrolling for treatment and paying for it requires this kind of openness.
Online, it can be much more difficult to ensure this information is protected.
Mental health facilities will be regulated to ensure patient data protection, but websites can be far more difficult to pin down. Ultimately, you don’t know where your information is going.
For many struggling with mental health issues, treatment can be a last resort.
Those with depression or anxiety can push back against the idea that they need help, so that when they eventually do access support, they need critical and significant treatment.
This is all well and good in a treatment facility where physical well-being can be directly monitored, but online there are no such protective measures.
An individual who desperately needs help can find themselves receiving support that either isn’t regular enough or doesn’t understand how serious the situation is. When this is the case, suicide can be a very real danger.
Mental health treatment can adopt a spectrum of forms.
Therapy can look different from person to person, with alternative and holistic means of support being available as well as those relating to medication, which can play huge parts in psychological recovery.
Accessing treatment online limits this variety, leaving individuals only the option of therapy.
While therapy is a key pillar of effective mental health support, it isn’t the solution for everyone, and this may leave some individuals feeling under-supported.
Physically attending treatment allows medical professionals to gauge a lot about an individual’s well-being.
They can look at appearance, personal hygiene, body language, and facial expression to learn more about an individual’s state than they can explain with words.
Online, this isn’t possible. Via chat log or video calls, a therapist has to base their treatment on what an individual tells them, and this can mean support is insufficient.
An individual may be good at hiding their problems, so online treatment can easily fail to get beneath the surface and understand how best to support a mental health issue.
Don’t take the risk of illegitimate online mental health treatment – call us today on 0800 140 4690
There are evident benefits to online mental health treatment, alongside a fair amount of potential dangers.
The question, then, is how can you balance the upsides of online support with the downsides, ensuring you reap the advantages whilst still remaining safe and supported?
It’s imperative to be careful about what you input to an online mental health treatment service.
When it comes to your telephone number, email address, home address, and bank details, take extreme caution.
Not every online service will be a scam, and there are plenty of platforms that genuinely want to help.
However, be sure to research the site or service you are considering using. Often, those who steal or misuse personal information will have reviews deterring people.
It’s normal for mental health treatment to cost money.
In-person support would require some sort of payment – whether that’s paid by the individual themselves, the NHS, or a health insurance company – so it’s not unusual for online support to do the same.
However, read the terms and conditions of whatever support you are enrolling for.
Make sure that you are paying a standard rate and that there are no hidden charges that will leave you financially stuck. And if a standing order is made, make sure you can cancel it.
When an individual enters a mental health support facility, measures will be taken to ensure that no harmful triggers can disrupt their initial positive progress.
This is part of the process required to build up the strength to eventually face their triggers.
Individuals need a short period of isolation to gather skills and techniques for resisting psychological decline, but online treatment can’t offer this.
Those working through problems via online support need to take steps to ensure they aren’t triggering themselves and compromising their progress. Avoiding certain places, people, and situations is essential in the short term, especially while treatment is getting underway.
A lot of people enter mental health support without a clear idea of what’s wrong. They may be able to identify certain emotions or thought patterns, but they will often not know what condition they are suffering from.
What brings many to organised treatment, therefore, is a desire to be diagnosed with a certain condition and receive some explanation for their issues.
This kind of clinical diagnosis requires mental health professionals to fully understand an individual’s situation.
Physical health, living situation, hygiene, occupation, medication use – it all needs to be understood, and as a result, online support shouldn’t be relied on for diagnosis.
Instead, it’s better to view online mental health treatment as a source of guidance and discussion. Use it to learn and adopt different ways of thinking, not a source of clinical answers.
Using online mental health support by its nature requires an individual to be looking at a screen or using a mobile device.
Unfortunately, this very activity is linked to a lot of mental health problems, [2] so there is a contradiction that individuals must manage.
If an individual is using these online services, it’s best that they allocate a restricted amount of time to doing so and avoid using their phone or laptop during the rest of the day.
Going outside, doing exercise and being sociable is good for mental health anyway, but these activities can be great alternatives to being on a mobile phone or laptop.
Not sure if you’re making the right choice about online mental health treatment? Talk to us today on 0800 140 4690
Online mental health support treatment can be useful as long as an individual understands what their needs are.
If talking about their mindset and emotions is what they need to improve, chat logs and video calls are perfect.
If more immediate and interventional support is needed, however, an individual needs to act.
If medication, supervision, or intense therapy are needed, online treatment should not be considered. Instead, a treatment facility should be sought out.
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6214874/
Boris is our editor-in-chief at Rehab 4 Addiction. Boris is an addiction expert with more than 20 years in the field. His expertise covers a broad of topics relating to addiction, rehab and recovery. Boris is an addiction therapist and assists in the alcohol detox and rehab process. Boris has been featured on a variety of websites, including the BBC, Verywell Mind and Healthline. You can connect with Boris online at LinkedIn or X.com.
