Full disclosure: a paywall prevents me from actually reading the article. However, to your comment, I would say that this doesn't actually prove that people can treat themselves. If it were proven that people truly are competent to treat themselves, I think more people would have done so. Once you are in a cycle of despair, it isn't always easy to see any way out. Every single option is void of hope of any sort. Broken hope.
Virtual therapy is hope in itself. I remember my parents taking me to a therapist when I was 14-15. I got caught shoplifting and they wanted to make sure I was ok. I really wasn't - I know now that I'd been mildly depressed for years by that point - but the therapy was wasted. Why? A combination of the man being a Christian therapist (still with degrees) and them making me sign a release form - nothing I said to the man was private from my own parents. This was not a safe place and I never trusted the man. No trust and a high likelihood of judgement from multiple parties (and a high chance of disproval or over-attention) made me shut up. Virtual? I'd consider that now, especially if for free. Best of all, it is private. Safe. No one could even see me go into the therapists office. Other people have issues trying to find a therapist that they click with. A computer is allowed to be off, to be a little cold, to be somewhat matter-of-fact: Humans need a bit of caring and empathy to go along with it.
So much of the stuff online seems like a scam. My father, during a depressed phase, spent a thousand or two on a program that basically said 'think yourself happy'. Common advice, which doesn't work. Also basic is 'just have faith in god (generally christian, but not always) and it will pass'. Actual help in any form is in short supply. Good sources stop well before practical help and tell you to talk to someone.
If my words sound a bit crazy, and not like normal people think, good. This is the stuff I have dealt with for the last 25 years or so in varying degrees. I generally haven't had access to a therapist or even be able to afford a doctor, so I'm just stuck. It isn't always bad, but it is always in the background.
> I would say that this doesn't actually prove that people can treat themselves.
Yes, true, it proves nothing. It only suggests it.
> If it were proven that people truly are competent to treat themselves, I think more people would have done so.
Not if they think psychologists are doctors. Not if the real point is to have a conversation with a sympathetic listener who isn't a machine. There are plenty of reasons a virtual therapist wouldn't work, apart from the technical content of the therapy.
> ... nothing I said to the man was private from my own parents.
I've read cases like that also, and IMHO it's criminal to create a quid pro quo in which the advantage of a sympathetic listener is undercut by the fact that anything can be revealed to the parents, who are often the real problem.
> Best of all, it is private.
Maybe. If this virtual therapy thing takes off, people are going to have to be very careful about how the transactions are handled. The content of the sessions would be a gold mine, and I'm sure people will try to offer online therapy sessions with a way to preserve the session content for "research", all explained in excruciatingly small print.
> I generally haven't had access to a therapist or even be able to afford a doctor, so I'm just stuck.
This is not to diminish your situation or pretend to understand you, but there was a time when a sympathetic friend would have been the obvious remedy.
"a sympathetic friend would have been the obvious remedy"
This, I think, is what a lot of people need. I've had times with absolutely no one to talk to, I'm sure others are the same. Luckily my situation is better now.
Virtual therapy is hope in itself. I remember my parents taking me to a therapist when I was 14-15. I got caught shoplifting and they wanted to make sure I was ok. I really wasn't - I know now that I'd been mildly depressed for years by that point - but the therapy was wasted. Why? A combination of the man being a Christian therapist (still with degrees) and them making me sign a release form - nothing I said to the man was private from my own parents. This was not a safe place and I never trusted the man. No trust and a high likelihood of judgement from multiple parties (and a high chance of disproval or over-attention) made me shut up. Virtual? I'd consider that now, especially if for free. Best of all, it is private. Safe. No one could even see me go into the therapists office. Other people have issues trying to find a therapist that they click with. A computer is allowed to be off, to be a little cold, to be somewhat matter-of-fact: Humans need a bit of caring and empathy to go along with it.
So much of the stuff online seems like a scam. My father, during a depressed phase, spent a thousand or two on a program that basically said 'think yourself happy'. Common advice, which doesn't work. Also basic is 'just have faith in god (generally christian, but not always) and it will pass'. Actual help in any form is in short supply. Good sources stop well before practical help and tell you to talk to someone.
If my words sound a bit crazy, and not like normal people think, good. This is the stuff I have dealt with for the last 25 years or so in varying degrees. I generally haven't had access to a therapist or even be able to afford a doctor, so I'm just stuck. It isn't always bad, but it is always in the background.