This article is sponsored by one of the fastest-growing telehealth companies in America, Antidote Health.
Online therapy is one of the fast-growing telehealth services in the U.S. and the world at large, and it isn’t difficult to see why. Behavioral healthcare is one of the easiest forms of healthcare to administer in a virtual setting, and there is an ever-burgeoning need for it. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, over 52.9 million adults in the U.S. are believed to live with a mental health condition.
That equates to roughly 1 in 5 American adults with a mental health condition, and 1 in 25 Americans dealing with a particularly serious diagnosis, such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the burgeoning demand for mental healthcare. As the world collectively had to contend with an exceptionally stressful two years, the need for more remote, home-based therapy services naturally grew out of that.
Although online therapy isn’t a recent telehealth development by any means (the first platform was pioneered by Dr. David Sommers all the way back in 1995), it’s one that’s undergone a very recent and unprecedented boom over the past two years. To give you an example of how big that boom is, one online therapy provider, Therapy Brands, saw an exponential 4,300% usage increase - just within the first month of the pandemic alone!
(See this March 2020 PRNewsire piece for more info.)
If you’re one of the 1 in 5 Americans who could stand to benefit from behavioral healthcare, we want you to feel assured in knowing that you’re far from alone, and that there are support resources abound to help you through whatever struggles you need help with. Here are some common, popular forms of online therapy that may stand to benefit you.
Online Talk Therapy
No matter how far along you are on your mental health journey, whether you have a definite diagnosis or not, you could most likely stand to benefit from some talk therapy. The American Psychological Association estimates that 75% of talk therapy patients report experiencing some level of benefit.
Even having one listening ear, one shoulder to cry on, and one person who’s there to help you get things off your chest can make a world of difference. Talkspace is one popular online therapy provider for this service, and perhaps the one with the aptest name - the platform makes it convenient to talk to an empathetic, compassionate, and listening professional willing to hold space for you.
Read our full Talkspace review to learn more about this provider, and if it sounds appealing to you, you can sign up here to get started with a first-month discount.
Online CBT Therapy
A variation on general talk counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy is a unique form of counseling where the counselor pays special attention to identifying maladaptive or dysfunctional thought processes in the mind, and how those maladaptive patterns could potentially be changed or challenged head-on.
This therapeutic strategy is useful for addressing a myriad of emotional adversities, including the following:
- The symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders
- Coping with grief, loss, and emotional traumas
- Improving communication and relationship dynamics
- Managing difficult and challenging emotions
A wide breadth of research suggests that CBT may be as equally effective as antidepressant medications in treating the symptoms of depression, though depending on your personal case, your counselor may recommend trying CBT and medication in tandem. If that applies to your situation, consider taking careful time and consideration in finding a trusted online psychiatrist.
Online Relationship Counseling
Going through rocky times with your partner and dealing with interpersonal conflicts you aren’t sure how to resolve? Relationship strains are normal from time to time, but if you and your better half find yourselves struggling through rifts too great to be resolved on your own, you may mutually want to consider couples counseling.
A relationship therapist can help you both reinforce healthier modes of communication and intimacy, identify and recenter negative relationship dynamics, and set goals toward getting your relationship back on track. Take special time, care, and consideration to find the right couples counselor for you and your partner’s relationship issues.
Online Trauma Therapy
Trauma is an unfortunate, but common facet of the human condition. While some people may be able to recover from traumatic experiences with little or no after effects, others may continue to feel the emotional pain of the traumatic experience lingering long after the initial traumatic event(s) happened.
In its worst forms, this emotional pain can manifest into serious cases of severe anxiety, depression, and sometimes, in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s easy to feel isolated, helpless, and alone in the face of such massive, omnipresent stress. But to reiterate an aforementioned point, we would like to affirm that you aren’t alone, and there are resources available to help you.
The National Center For PTSD estimates that at least 60% of men and 50% of women are believed to experience at least one trauma at some point in their lives. If you’re after online therapies to address your own traumas, consider using a platform with personalized assessment screenings, so you can be optimally matched with the best counselor to address that personal trauma.
Online Eating Disorder Therapy
Due to the common need for “weigh-in” checkups that are best conducted in-person, we would first recommend referring to your local, in-person therapy resources for treating anorexia, bulimia, or any eating disorders you may be struggling with.
However, if effective local eating disorder treatments are difficult to come by, or are unavailable to come by altogether, know that online eating disorder resources are still better than having access to no resources for your eating disorder.
Online Family Counseling
Online family therapy can offer you and your loved ones an invaluable resource, and an essential outlet to:
- Improve communication dynamics
- Develop new coping skills
- Mediate conflicting situations
- Strengthen your relationships
To find the best online therapist for you and your loved ones, consider telehealth providers that pay special consideration to family plans, such as Antidote Health.
Which Online Therapy Is Best? Will Online Therapy Work?
Ultimately, the answer to both of these questions is subjective. But given the sheer number of online therapy resources available, as well as the sheer 75% effectiveness of CBT alone, we’re optimistic that the resources you need are out there, and could be closer than you think. They could only just be a click away!
Online Therapy Providers
If you or a loved one could use remote mental health support, then we sincerely hope this article will prove helpful in your therapist search, as well as our database of the best online therapy providers.
