Are Alternative Therapy Options Worse for Individuals?

Technology is continuously changing in our face paced society. It really comes to no surprise that there are a variety of alternative therapy options now available compared to the standard face-to-face therapy session, as society tries to keep up with the latest technology. There are a wide variety of alternative therapy methods including video, online/chat known as e-therapy, and telephone methods. However, these alternative therapy options may not have the patient’s best interest at hand. The prevalence of alternative therapy does not appear to be decreasing any time soon; however, are the negatives outweighing the positives? Disadvantages to alternative therapy options include, lack of visual and nonverbal cues from patients, confidentiality issues, and therapy diagnosis may be incorrect as a result of lack of personal interaction.

Everyone is different in their preferences, liking, lifestyles, but one thing that remains fairly constant over individuals is visual and nonverbal cues. Visual and nonverbal cues is known as wordless communication, this includes but not limited to eye contact, distance, blink rate, posture, and facial expressions (Alleman, 2002). When alternative therapy options is available, communication can often be misinterpreted and taken in the wrong context because these cues are not present in chat, email, and phone options (Baker & Ray, 2011). Often enough therapists are trained and skilled in decoding patient’s nonverbal cues because these cues can provide therapist with meaningful information that the patient may not express verbally. Aside from nonverbal cues there are also many critical verbal cues that go undetected with certain alternative therapy options, these include, email and chat thera...

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...rapy is known for.

Ultimately, alternative therapy methods need to be researched and studied more because technology increases change in our society. Change is good for the most part; however, currently, alternative therapy methods appear to bring more negatives than positives to society. Alternative therapy methods result in a lack of visual, nonverbal, and verbal cues from patients, confidentiality issues, and therapy diagnosis may be incorrect as a result of lack of personal interaction.

References

Alleman, J. R. (2002). Online counseling: The Internet and mental health treatment. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 39(2), 199-209. doi:10.1037/0033- 3204.39.2.199

Baker, K., & Ray, M. (2011). Online counseling: The good, the bad, and the possibilities. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 24(4), 341-346. doi:10.1080/09515070.2011.632875