Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is online counseling and psychotherapy?

By counseling and psychotherapy we mean counseling and therapy services offered by a certified mental health care professional, such as a psychologist or a psychotherapist. Working online means that we use Internet services, such as email, chat, calls and video-conferencing to communicate with the client instead of meeting face-to-face.

2. Who can use your services?

A person who is looking for professional psychological counseling or psychotherapy and who approves of communicating via Internet.

IMPORTANT:

The use of our services is always under the client's responsability. If you are experincing an urgent psychological emergency, such as contemplate harming yourself or another person, please contact a local emergency service. Latpsi is a not a subsitute of an emergency service.

3. Where to find more information on online psychology?

A very good source is "Technology in counselling and psychotherapy. A practioner's guide", a book edited by Kate Anthony and Stephen Goss. We answer the last questions based on this book and on our own pratical experience.

4. What kind of benefits are associated with online counseling?

Higher life satisfaction and a more harmonious life. Speaking of working online, communicating online is a very practical solution for many clients. E-mail counseling works when the client wants to contemplate on life without time pressure. Using calls and video-conferencing are ideal in cases where the client wants to discuss his/hers situation with the psychologist in real time but does not wish to leave home.

Many clients prefer working online to regular face-to-face sessions due to the level of flexibility it offers. For example, working without seeing each other is possible by choosing not use a web camera. In many cases counseling online is the only alternative available due to geographic factors.

5. Does online therapy really work?

It is an interesting fact that reported benefits of online counseling and therapy are very similar to the ones associated with more traditional methods, such as face-to-face sessions. This means that online counseling is an efficient solution in coping with many types of challenges and problems.

Naturally, online counseling is still a relatively young field. Many results associated with it are based on case studies and practical experiences reported by mental health care practitioners world-wide.