We Hear Your Concerns About Online Therapy — And Well is Addressing Them
well staff writerWe Hear Your Concerns About Online Therapy — And Well is Addressing Them
Too many of the online therapy options out there right now focus on the immediacy of the technology itself, rather than the quality of therapy provided. Pushing back on this pattern, Well focuses on how we can best meet your needs using the technology available. In other words, we are not a tech company, we are a therapy company that uses technology to increase the accessibility of specialist, high-quality, licensed therapy centered on you and your needs.
A lot of online therapy available today emphasizes immediate accessibility through apps and messaging on your cell phone, but experts at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) are uncertain whether this therapy works, as it is, at present, supported by “assumptions” rather than adequate medical studies. We know that video therapy is comparable to the in-person version, as the video allows therapists and patients to respond to each other in context, with clear cues from tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions. As most of us can relate to, however, it’s very easy to misconstrue a written statement, especially via text, without the aid of accompanying expressions, body language, and tone. So what do we know about the effectiveness of text-based therapy?
Therapy and mental health are serious, and though text-based therapy might be helpful to some, it’s important to weigh the lack of evidence when making important medical decisions. In the few positive studies that have been done, none include a control group of people with comparable diagnoses using either no therapy or different forms of therapy, which makes it hard to say how effective such therapies are, and many of the most rigorous studies show negative or inconclusive conclusions. More concerning, the positive studies are both few in number and small in size, which makes it even more impossible to use them to come to broad conclusions we should feel confident about. On top of these limitations, the largest and seemingly most positive studies have been sponsored by the very companies offering text-based therapy, which is concerning, even if the researchers were not explicitly directed to publish positive results.
At the end of the day, we simply don’t know enough about text therapy to say with any confidence that it’s medically sound, which is a concerning place to be when you’re making choices about your mental health and wellbeing. We need to be able to make informed decisions about our health, and Well bases our therapy model on medical research that is convincing and independent, to make sure you can be confident in the research behind our offered therapy.
Of course, while research-backing is crucial, personal preference and experience are also hugely important, and we work hard to listen to the concerns of online therapy users to make sure your experience with Well is personalized and positive. Many have found that text-heavy forms of therapy feel less personal and immediate than the idea of texting a therapist implies: because the texting therapy is most often not “live” (you’re not conversing with a therapist when you need to, but rather will receive replies a couple of times a day, often long after you reach out), APA’s John Torus, reviewing his experience for the The New York Times, found the experience to be more like an email exchange than a conversation. Though the portal of communication is right there on your cell phone or computer, the ease of reaching out using technology does not make your therapist feel closer; the technology is immediate, but the therapy most often isn’t.
We are not a tech company, we use technology to increase the accessibility of specialized. high-quality care centered on you and your needs.
The uncertainty of when your therapist will be able to message you back (and long wait times for responses) is an issue noted by many reviewers of these platforms as well as by Shannon Palus, who tried out a few platforms for The New York Times. She found that the experience exacerbated her anxiety, and didn’t feel like a text conversation at all, since her therapist was limited to one to two responses per day. Furthermore, the impersonal element of the written word also made her therapist’s responses feel a bit generic and cold when removed from the context of face-to-face communication. Writing for The Guardian, Angelina Chapin noted that she felt the messages her therapist texted in response to any larger problems she had made her feel less like a therapist and more like a “self-care bot,” which isn’t really the personal touch you want. Though the immediacy of text-based therapy is appealing for those who have busy schedules or struggle with the commitment of an in-person therapy appointment, the trade-offs simply don’t feel worth it.
Of course, text-based therapy subscriptions are sometimes not solely text-based and are usually sold as “texting in between video sessions,” though these sessions are often shorter than the usual 45-minute (or longer) sessions you would expect if you’re someone who is used to more traditional in-person or video therapy, which emphasizes how central the texting is on these platforms. Because your in-person time is limited to allow for brief text exchanges in between sessions, you should read this as a trade-off, rather than an addition: you’re forgoing the therapy forms backed by research in favor of text communication, which is not.
We know video therapy is far more like in-person therapy, with the added comforts of being in one’s own space (as Palus notes in her article, it can be jarring to leave an intense session and re-enter the world outside your therapist’s front door, and having the ability to sit still and reflect after a session can do a world of good). Not all video therapy is equal, however. Many of the video therapy services suffer somewhat from an initial feeling of distance, as new patients are greeted with a pre-recorded video receptionist after setting up consultations with therapists they self-select from a limited list of variables combined with consultation availability. New patients have the control to choose therapists who, based on the information available, seem like the best fit, but the vetting process can be time-consuming as you may have to go through a number of consultations before finding a therapist who works for you.
Well has paid attention to these concerns in order to best assist your needs. Our process, explained in more detail here, for new patients is personal and centers on finding the best therapist for you, making the experience feel more like in-person therapy rather than a technology-centered service. We work to make sure our therapist-selection process is both personal and less time-consuming than other options because we know it’s hard to prioritize health care when it feels like you have to spend a lot of your time and effort to make it work.
You can feel confident that you will always be talking to a licensed therapist, both for your sessions and while we work together to find a therapist to match your personality and needs, and you can feel secure that we do not offer therapy that is not backed by rigorous research. We want you to feel welcome, valued, and centered in your therapy, and work to make high-quality individualized therapy accessible using secure video sessions that allow you to meet with your therapist easily from your own space. We’re always listening for ways to improve our therapy and care practices and take pride in how we are able to tailor sessions to your needs using the technology available. Remember, we are not a tech company, we are a therapy company that uses technology to increase the accessibility of specialist, high-quality, licensed therapy centered on you and your needs.
