Online CBT

[Misha]

I'm kind of new to the world of online therapies, and it's always a good discussion, so I wanted to run this by people...

I recently made some major decisions about the direction of my therapy, and ended up looking for some cognitive skills training. The best option I ended up with, in my opinion, was online. The website I ended up at is www.livinglifetothefull.com and is run out of Scotland as a government-funded research project in online treatments. The skills training course is very well set up and laid out, and from what I can see is based on sound c/b theory. The modules consist of slides with narration by the therapist explaining the cognitive exercises. There is much focus on taking the time to complete practice exercises while working through the module instead of just rushing through. And the therapist has a Scottish accent which in my opinion is never a bad thing. (For the record, I find that British resources concerning mental illness are VERY high quality... they seem to have a "healthier" understanding of mental illness as a society.)

I am not trying to "advertise" this site. The perception I got of it is good, but ultimately I am asking about the effectiveness of such therapy. For those therapists, etc. out there, do you feel this kind of treatment is a good option (I know it's all case specific, but in general terms...)? At what point does an online therapy like this become to impersonal?

 

[Halo]

Although I am not a therapist, I decided that I would post my immediate thought upon reading your post which was although I have not taken a look at the website and the specific exercises, I would hope that you have a really good support system in place prior to beginning the exercises. I say this because I know for myself that doing some cbt exercises in my own therapy that overwhelming thoughts and feelings have come up and it was good to have my therapist there to talk to about them.

I guess that was my initial concern about online therapy and if you are doing these exercises and become overwhelmed dealing with specific issues and/or memories, where do you turn?

Again, just my immediate thought.