Therapy 2.0: from the couch to sessions via the Internet – 23/02/2019

In Goya, Corrientes, the afternoon falls and Luciana has just prepared some friends. In Aix-en-Provence, France, the night was falling when Alicia was connected to the Internet to take care of her remote patient. Alicia is a psychologist and has adopted one of the methodologies that she uses to answer some of her questions.

More and more specialists and patients are continuing their treatments on the Web thanks to the advantages offered by technology. They do it by Skype or WhatsApp video call, which, until a few years ago, seemed unthinkable.

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Despite the distance, sessions via the Internet are usually similar to face-to-face sessions: one hour, according to a schedule agreed in advance, when the appointment is taken to the screen. "It is recommended to look for quiet, quiet and private places.The patient must create a mini-office on the other side, where he must continue to be a special moment, arm himself with a favorable climate to be able to focus "Says psychologist María Cecilia Romano.

Alicia Cáceres, psychobadyst, started with this type of session 10 years ago, when the patients she attended migrated and, instead of looking for new therapists, chose to continue to take care d & # 39; it. "I had to aggiornar.In the beginning, doubts appeared, because in Argentina, we attach great importance to the custom relationship.I was surprised, but now I'm used to it.It comes a time when the We forget the screen at the center, "he says, from France.

For most patients and therapists, this modality opens up a world of possibilities. The distances are shortened by maintaining the same privacy as with the face to face. Although all specialists emphasize the importance of having a face-to-face contact at a given moment of treatment, in order to observe nonverbal language, which is sometimes not perceived via the Internet.

"The meeting allows me to see and collect more information.Transference, which is the way the patient enters a wave with you, so empathy, for both is important.It is a construction In this way, the badogue is lost and the coldness of a web-based relationship can be compensated for by a meeting, "explains Romano.

Although this is booming, this form of treatment is not suitable for everyone. It is always important to see the type of pathology and the context of each person. "A crisis or a panic attack is not the same thing as existential order issues.This type of modality is convenient when you already know the patient personally.For example, in the case of studying or to go live elsewhere.I also currently treat patients living in England, Chile and Neuquen.These three people were first sitting in my office and I already know their story.This is essential for me, "says psychologist Gustavo Laplaca.

On the other side of the screen: the patients. Máximo Casetta, 32, used this method while he lived to work in La Pedrera, Uruguay. I was running an off-season architecture project. At that time, the population of the region reached only 40 inhabitants. The isolation and the distance led him to start a therapy. It was thanks to the recommendation of a friend and the experience was a success.

"Whether it was remote did not change at all.This worked because I got stuck with the psychologist.I remember that when I met him, after this year, it was not easy. It was a bit weird, in the first session I was like more content, we knew each other a lot, but we had never met each other personally, "he recalls.

Technology can be a good ally, as long as conditions are right for that to happen. Florencia Dainotto is 27 years old and has not had the best experience. When his longtime psychologist settled in Geneva, he asked him to continue at a distance. He still remembers the day he told her. He was going to live on the outside and he proposed this new proposal to follow the meetings, but in a new format. She, who was going through a difficult time, accepted because she felt that they had already made a lot of progress, that there was a lot of information given to start from scratch with another person. "I think you lose a lot of framing, set the day and the hour, know that you have your space, even physical.In contrast, in online therapy, there is one at home, that's "I'm very used to traditional sessions, that's why I ended up leaving," Florencia says.

Internet-based therapies are much more appealing to young people who, according to experts, understand digital codes better. María Cecilia Romano believes that there is a change of era and that, like all changes, some people take a little longer to be accepted. "For generations over 50 years, it is complicated to integrate this modality, I proposed it to a patient of 52 years and she said it was weird" , she says.

2.0 Therapy was born from the need of a world in constant evolution. More and more people are choosing it for a variety of reasons. From the evaluation of therapeutic work in the mother tongue or continued treatment with the specialist for years. Today, the couch manages to move in any house, no matter which corner of the planet you are on.