Modern Technologies and Applications and Community Psychiatry

Abstract

The provision of remote psychological support services was initiated in the 1970s with the psychological support helplines. Such services are a continuously growing field of mental healthcare, given that many mental healthcare units are located in remote areas and unable to provide immediate psychological and counselling services in response to crisis situations. Other support services, such as online counselling and teleconferencing services in a telepsychiatry context, may also contribute significantly in an integrated crisis intervention system aiming to prevent the effects of psychological trauma and regain an individual’s functionality. Online support is provided in the form of information guides and self-help groups or online counselling services, as the process involving two persons has been defined, the therapist and the client, in verbal or written communication via an Internet connection. The benefits of this specific practice, such as accessibility, comfort, anonymity, facilitation of face-to-face psychotherapy and low cost, make, in specific cases, online counselling the therapy of choice. Although the use of the Internet seems promising for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, specialists disagree on the ethical practice of psychotherapy in an interactive, digital environment. Issues such as know-how and the management of technical problems, difficulties in the diagnostic process, verbal and nonverbal cues, crisis management, preservation of therapeutic alliance, protection of personal information, age limitations and respect of boundaries in terms of space, time and the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship and, finally, the training and supervisory process of online therapists are some of the issues to be addressed.