Any time one attempts to play around with another person’s mind there will be serious consequences if that person is injured.

Any time one attempts to play around with another person’s mind there will be serious consequences if that person is injured.

Empowering individuals to function at the optimum level and creating self awareness along with adaptability require a thorough professional approach along with deep understanding of cultural values. A well defined code of Ethics along with its uncompromising and intensive practice create a trusting environment for the clients to securely open their minds and hearts before the professionals to make the diagnostic and intervention process effective and efficient.whether someone is providing face to face counseling or online counseling the principal remains the same to provide a secure and facilitating environment for the client.Establishing an environment of trust and building a therapeutic relationship online requires multidimensional steps.All counselors who want to conduct online counseling must provide,exhibit and make arrangement for fool proof security regarding the privacy and confidentiality of the information of their clients using state of the art technology.

1. The client must be made literate about the benefits and risks involved in an online counseling session.

2. Counselor must ensure first that the person who wants to get counseling is conformable with online counseling or not.

3.There must be some sort initial testing to figure out the appropriateness of online sessions for a particular type of client.

4. Clients must be checked for visual , hearing or any other impairments that may pose hindrance in counseling sessions.

5. Counselor must ensure the minimum technological fluency required by the person who wants to get counseling online.

This list is not exhaustive by any standards.However the essence of online counseling is to ensure both the traditional and technological security for the client. And maybe most importantly the suitability test of client for online counseling.

Online Psychological Counseling ? Sounds fishy to me. Blue Whale Game online Counceling from Russia was also one example which took so many lives of teenagers and children. I dont recommend online as scam

thank you dr.Muhammad Zubair for your smart response

psychology relates to our mind the forces of which remains everlasting with this our mind also never gets tired & flow of our energy with our conscious mind always work .It is in this line we have view our psychology for this sometime back I have expressed my views under the captioned ''Psychology Everyday Practice which I submit herewith for your perusal

Thanks

It depend but from what I know we cam ask for proof if they are bound by strict local and federal laws, as is the case with their brick and mortar business. Ask if the counseling sessions are protected by HIPAA. Furthermore, make sure your chat sessions are also secured by encryption which only you and your therapist can access. Lastly, should you still not feel comfortable with counseling, even online counseling, you have the ability to sign up using an alias and dummy e-mail account. So you are more protected than the traditional one. Agree?

Trustworthy online resources could be helpful and useful for those who cannot travel around. Telemedicine and telerehabilitation are two good examples. Ethics of traditional services apply.

You can do a pilot research on this which is more scientific than gathering opinions, although it involves a bit of work.

1. Make a list of criteria that you know apply to face to face counseling.

2. Turn this into a list of questions, a questionnaire.

3. Define online counseling, chat by texting only? Or using Skype, Facetime, VSee etc which is almost face to face but not physical presence in the same space.

4. Then create a sample by going online and find some online counselors that at least say something about their credentials. For a first exploration 6-8 are enough. Use your list of criteria to see how many criteria you can tick off using their webpage information. Then you send them an email introducing your research and ask if they are willing to answer a short questionnaire. With that you can make an overbiew of:

- the facts, in reality, what is demonstrably present

- their opinions about differences between face to face counseling and online counseling.

This can be done in 3-4 weeks including conclusions if you don’t let yourself get side-tracked by ........ whatever.

it is good practice and you will learn a lot about doing research and all the mistakes you can make, which will help you do a larger research much quicker and easier and better.

Yes, there are different ethics related to online therapy or psychological services. A good start for a code of ethics is the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO) - https://acto-org.uk/ (declaring I am a member). In addition, it is recommended by most online therapy training organisations (of which I provide online training) - that online therapy training is required for practitioners working online. Taking account of the different process - of being in front of a computer, boundary crosses that may happen with clients - so different contracts are required for working online as well. I'm happy to answer further questions.

thank your Dr.Renee

Boshra

In the US the APA cautions practitioners about on-line therapy and does not prohibit it. The ethics remain the same. Extra caution is taken re: confidentiality and security of records. Two of my colleagues engage in OLT; I would never do it. It is not the the way I was trained nor how I practiced for 40 years. Interesting issue.

Rich

Richard, an interesting response. The world and young people, especially, are trying to get support through places like snapchat - so as much as we may not want to change (I still work face-to-face as well), the world is calling out and crying for it. We could argue nuances, though ACTO suggests special consideration around encryption, security and data management. I take Lilian’s points above. There is a heap of research and textbooks supporting online therapy‘s efficacy and ability to deal with any concerns traditional associations may have. Please consider training or proper research before proceeding. I have produced some research - or you can look to experts who have been doing it for years... Weitz, Kate Anthony, Jane Evans - there are textbooks out there. It’s important to consider your safety, security and encryption - as well as your client. There are multiple other places to point you towards - no need to do your own research when it’s already done for you. Let me know if you need more information.

Thank you Dr.Lilian

In general on-line counseling follows all the ethical rules that apply to face-to-face counseling. However, an additional danger with on-line counseling is the lack of control on certain aspects. We take for granted some issues in face-to-face counseling that may not be true in on-line counseling. For example, are both therapist and client alone during the session or anyone else can listen to their session? Is the session recorded or not? Also, when the therapist is located in a different area, different rules about counseling may apply in the two areas/countries. On-line counseling is usually more difficult than face-to-face counseling for a number of reasons but in some cases it may be a method of choice.

Olympia, please see my responses above. Actually, data breach and new laws across the world impact on online therapy more than face-to-face. There are many differences, and the research proves this. There are positives and negatives of both face-to-face and online therapy. So clients in future will need to consider their needs before proceeding to therapy, rather than just considering where to go. As many Dr Google already, clients in the future will Google online therapists - as they are already doing.

Olympia, there are many online counselling and therapy courses out there - and if you're interested, ask me.

See the newly published book at Karnac Books, London:

Theory and Practice of Online Therapy: Internet-delivered Interventions for Individuals, Groups, Families, and Organizations

Editor : Haim Weinberg, Editor : Arnon Rolnik

My Dear Lilian

Very thank you

Regards

Boshra

See my new book - Online therapy: Processes, tasks, integration and energetic holding. Published July 2019 - through Lambert Publishing, Germany. Let me know if you’d like a copy.

Good question.