Online Therapy Services --Good? Bad?

[RainbowSearchParty]

Hi y'all, curious if you have had any success in using online therapy options like Betterhelp.

The too-long-didn't-read is that I had a really good month in August where I was surrounded by positive support and -- low and behold-- I felt really good. But I'm back in my real life, where I have very little support. I'm working on long-term solutions, but I need some short-term ones as well that can help patch me over until I'm able to move back to my home country, find a job where I'll have coworkers, expand my social support system, get a good therapist and psychiatrist, etc.

I'm not looking for real therapy. I just need someone that I can check in with about basics, like maintaining good sleep hygiene and managing anxiety. Honestly, I just need someone that I can talk to. If I had more actual, 3D people, I wouldn't even consider this, but until I have those 3D people, maybe an online one would help? Therapy in this country isn't covered by insurance and is thus financially inaccessible to me, and even the sliding scales/intern scales are about double what Betterhelp is. Plus, all the therapy options have waitlists of months to even meet with a therapist, which doesn't really help when I need something in the here and now. I feel kinda pathetic considering this just to have someone that is paid to pay attention and talk to me each week, but I think this is where I am at. At least for now.

Any thoughts? Is it worth it? Or is my money better spent elsewhere?

 

[Lost in the Woods]

I tried online therapy and I thought it was a waste of time and money. I can’t remember the name of the company but it was really funky. I would fill out endless forms with questions and then I would get a response that made me think a real person wasn’t reading the busy work I was being sent. Like most online things, it wasn’t easy to terminate. I hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Thanks, @Lost in the Woods. This is very helpful, especially about the trouble with cancellation. I haven't signed up yet, trying to weigh my options. Did you get to actually meet with someone via video? Were they at all helpful, if you did?

 

[osiris]

Online therapy can be useful I think and there are some out there that do affordable virtual sessions.

In the UK there’s a company that have set up therapy on the high street which includes walk in sessions and they do online too. I have no experience of them myself but when I was researching possible options for my kid they seemed really professionally organised and they all have proper qualifications, so it might be an option to research?

It’s called the self space.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

It was all questionnaires and emailed responses. The responses seemed mechanical and I wondered if a human was really involved at all. If it was human, it did seem really uninterested in the process.

 

[Rose White]

I had text therapy for a while. It was either before I met my old T or around the time I started with her. I found it helpful as a kind of stop gap or someone to reach out to any time.

7 Cups app also had something like that—trained “listeners” who you could talk to at any time by text.

 

[Movingforward10]

I've had online therapy ever since the first lockdown as my T never went back to in-person. I only had 2 months of therapy in person. And over 5 years online.
It's worked really well for me.
But then, I've been used to online for a long time as that's how I've worked in my job for many years prior to the pandemic. So it feels like a place to make connection.

I don't know about better help. I have no experience of it.
.but online works a treat.

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

I think Betteehelp has been subject to a lot of criticism for unethical/poor quality/shady practices, on theraputic and financial fronts, so I’d avoid them personally… but I started with my T online, so there are definitely good ones. I think this area also has mixed-bag of therapists, like in-person, the T before my current one was online, and so bad I gave up for 3 years. But if you have autonomy over who you get and keep, I’d test it out.

Someone in my family uses Talkworks… online service here in the UK. Seems to be going well. In my mind, this kind of thing is best used as a bridge between nothing, and a more specialised therapist.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Thanks, everyone. This is really helpful. I've done online therapy in the past and it worked, but it was with a longterm, trauma-informed therapist who specialized in dissociative disorders, so definitely different than Betterhelp or those sorts of platforms.

I think Betteehelp has been subject to a lot of criticism for unethical/poor quality/shady practices, on theraputic and financial fronts, so I’d avoid them personally

This is important for me to remember. Thank you.

 

[Tilt-A-Whirl]

Hello.

I tried EMDR via webcam and the results have been mixed. I'm considering trying again but face to face.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Okay, here's another question: 7 Cups. I understand that they have some free stuff, but also offer a paid therapy option like Betterhelp. Has anyone had any experience with that?

Also, for what it's worth, I made a burner account with Betterhelp to get into the system and see what it was like. I didn't sign up. But now they have emailed me an offer for $25 less a week than the advertised price, which definitely makes it more appealing. Still haven't done anything about it.

Edited to add: I'm just at the point where I need a bandaid, and am starting to need it badly. Obviously real therapy is ideal, but it isn't available to me, and I'm a little concerned as to what might happen if I don't start triaging my mental health in a serious way. So that's the starting point here, unfortunately, in what I'm considering as useful.

 

[Movingforward10]

Could you try a session with the new offer on better help, with the view that if you don't feel it will work you don't continue?