Psychotherapy 2.0: Where Psychotherapy and Technology Meet

Editor : Philippa Weitz

I wrote a commentary in chapter eight of this very timely book.

Synopsis from the Karnac website:

The digital age is both exciting and challenging for psychotherapy, opening the door to clients groups previously not able to access psychological help, whilst also providing the challenges caused by social media and internet abuse and how these impact on the consulting room.

Psychotherapy 2.0 blows open the consulting room doors and shows successful pathways for attracting new clients to gain access to psychological help, as well as demonstrating that despite initial scepticism, working online as a psychotherapist or counsellor can be as effective as ‘face2face’ work: the therapeutic relationship may be different but it remains the centrally important feature for successful psychotherapy. It follows therefore that all psychotherapists and counsellors need to be fully informed about the impact of the digital age on their clinical practice. Psychotherapy 2.0 covers the key issues for psychotherapists and counsellors who are, or are thinking of, working online, include thinking about psychotherapy in the digital age, the requirements to modify training both for working online and also the digital issues as they arise within the face2face consulting room.

This book is intended as a first volume in this fast changing field, with further volumes intended to concentrate on existing and emerging research, as well the diverse ways in which online work is already being developed and implemented worldwide. It is possibly the greatest moment of change for psychotherapy since Freud: there is no going back, and just as we cannot put toothpaste back in the tube, psychotherapy practice is changed for ever with the advent of the digital age.

Reference

Van Rijn, B. (2014). Establishing an Online Practice. Chapter Eight Commentary. Psychotherapy 2.0: Where Psychotherapy and Technology Meet  Ed. P. Weitz. London, Karnac Books: 186-187.

Challenges to Developing Routine Outcomes Evaluation in Different Practice Settings and Cultures: A Naturalistic Enquiry in Spain and the UK

Abstract

A naturalistic sessional evaluation of routine outcomes of psychotherapy from a range of theoretical orientations including transactional analysis, using standardised measures for depression, anxiety, general distress and working alliance, was conducted across completed therapy interventions by 113 therapists with 263 clients within an academic institution in the UK and across stages of therapy by 10 therapists with 26 clients in three independent clinics in Spain.  Outcomes in both countries demonstrated clinical gains but it was found that such evaluation methodology was more easily applied within a training institute than in private practice; it also appeared to better fit the UK professional climate of evaluation.  Suggestions are made concerning the introduction of such research in future.

Reference

van Rijn, B., Wild, C., & Dumitru, A. (2014). Challenges to Developing Routine Outcomes Evaluation in Different Practice Settings and Cultures: A Naturalistic Enquiry in Spain and the UK. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research, 5(2), 28-34. Retrieved from http://www.ijtar.org/article/view/13800/9077