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Welcome to Adaptable | Behavior Explained! In this video, we are going to explore the pros and cons of telehealth versus in-person therapy. As mental health services become more accessible online, many are wondering which option is best for their needs. I'll dive into the benefits and challenges of both approaches, covering aspects like convenience, effectiveness, personal connection, and privacy. Whether you're considering starting therapy or just curious about the differences, this video will help you make an informed decision.
I'm Kelly O'Horo, Attachment based EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA Consultant, and Advanced Trainer. I'm a mom of 5, Nonna of 5, wife, and a healer. I have the honor of spending my workdays walking along side people while they brave their healing journeys. I try to live with the generous assumption that we're all doing the best we can with what we know. Therapists are teachers for the "life stuff" and "emotional vocabulary" that may not have been learned due to gaps in our care givers capabilities. In the last 15 years I've learned that people are freaking amazing, resilient, and inspiring. Most importantly, we are hardwired for connection and for healing!
I hope to bring an authentic, compassionate, and unpolished approach while we explore a variety of topics such as parenting, marriage, relationships, dating, trauma, attachment, adoption, depression, addiction, anxiety, and love! There's a why for all behaviors and an explanation that makes perfect sense as emotion is at the root of it all.
-- Links --
https://linktr.ee/kellyohorolpc
https://youtu.be/rLnARKekvgo
https://www.emdria.org/find-an-emdr-therapist/
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0:06
hi everyone I'm Kell ooro and this is
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adaptable Behavior explained hi
0:12
everybody thank you so much for tuning
0:14
in today to adaptable I'm Kelly ooro and
0:17
I'm glad to have you here I wanted to
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talk with you today about the topic of
0:22
uh te theapy or tella Health versus
0:24
in-person therapy a lot of people are
0:27
struggling to decide what approach they
0:29
want to take
0:30
and they're um torn because there's pros
0:33
and cons to both so we're just going to
0:34
dig into that a little bit today and
0:36
talk about some of those pros and cons
0:38
before covid we were really an in-person
0:41
modality and in-person experience most
0:44
people didn't go outside of the box to
0:45
do online therapy and um with with covid
0:49
we kind of had no choice we all had to
0:52
separate of course as you all know and
0:54
we had to adapt and we had to become
0:55
flexible and so with that we learned a
0:58
whole bunch about uh about online
1:01
therapy as an option there's so many
1:04
positive attributes related to this
1:06
evolution in our field because we have
1:09
more choices and with with more choices
1:11
always things can improve so let's talk
1:14
first about how do we even decide what
1:16
it is that we want to do do I want to go
1:18
through one of those apps and find an
1:20
online person or do I want to look in my
1:22
community and find an in-person
1:23
therapist so let's talk first about
1:25
Effectiveness research does show that
1:28
online therapy can be just as effective
1:29
Ive as inperson therapy especially when
1:32
you use an Evidence Place uh based
1:34
approach like cognitive behavioral
1:36
therapy or EMDR therapy uh eye movement
1:39
desensitization and reprocessing which
1:41
is a really uh well researched bottomup
1:43
trauma informed therapy um but let's
1:46
break it down a little bit further so
1:48
cognitive behavioral therapy uh there's
1:50
been many programs that have been
1:52
successful in treating anxiety
1:54
depression and other mental health
1:55
conditions for example there's apps like
1:58
wobot um that use CB principles to guide
2:01
people through self-help exercises and
2:03
coping strategies like I've mentioned in
2:05
many other episodes we want to make sure
2:08
we recognize those strategies as a state
2:10
change activity um as opposed to a trait
2:13
change activity if we want to get to the
2:15
root of the matter we have to do
2:17
bottomup therapies and the good news is
2:19
that even online we can do bottomup
2:21
therapies such as EMDR EMDR I've got a
2:24
whole episode or actually two episodes
2:26
on how EMDR works that's the specialty
2:28
that I have um and I've been doing for
2:31
many years and it involves bilateral
2:34
stimulation like with eye movements or
2:36
tapping and it's been adapted for online
2:38
sessions uh I love a company called
2:41
bilateral iOS if you're a therapist
2:43
tuning in they are my favorite these uh
2:46
gentlemen from Holland got so Innovative
2:48
they were motivated for the right
2:50
reasons to create this application for
2:52
us therapists during covid because they
2:54
were former clients and they had an IT
2:56
specialty and they they saw a gap and
2:58
they bridged it during Co and they
3:00
offered this app to us for free for so
3:03
long while they were developing it and
3:05
it was a game Cher so I have to tell you
3:07
that there are some really cool apps
3:08
that help us as therapists and as the
3:11
client um working through these things
3:13
together uh with apps that make us
3:16
something that we didn't think could be
3:17
done by not being in person really super
3:20
effective on in an online setting so
3:22
with EMDR therapy and the applications
3:25
that have been invented we can
3:26
absolutely use um these strategies to
3:30
work on on unresolved things that people
3:33
come to therapy for the modality does
3:35
matter because there's there one we have
3:38
to have research that supports uh
3:40
therapeutic modalities and Effectiveness
3:42
so that we're making sure that we are
3:44
effective and that our outcomes can be
3:47
counted on and so there is a lot of um
3:50
research for virtual versus face-to-face
3:52
sessions uh specifically with uh CBT
3:56
therapy and now EMDR therapy talk any
3:59
talk therapy or video call works well
4:02
because people can talk about uh
4:04
themselves how they feel their feelings
4:06
and they can have support and connection
4:08
and validation the relationship is the
4:11
basis for outcomes that are strong and
4:13
so that can absolutely be achieved in an
4:16
online setting and so if we're lonely if
4:19
we're disconnected we're able to have an
4:21
online uh experience in a therapeutic
4:23
setting we don't have to wait till an
4:25
in-person option happens I will caution
4:28
you that certain experience cial
4:30
therapies would probably not be as
4:31
effective like um art or dance therapy
4:35
where there's probably something that's
4:36
lost in the digital realm so there are
4:38
certain things that uh are better in
4:41
person another factor that has to be
4:43
considered when it comes to con thinking
4:45
about online versus in-person therapy is
4:48
the client Readiness so your Readiness
4:50
for change plays a significant role some
4:53
people thrive in a virtual therapy
4:55
setting they appreciate convenience
4:58
privacy time constraints that don't have
5:00
to be considered by going into an office
5:03
but others might struggle with the
5:04
format missing those tangible uh
5:07
presence of the therapist uh and the
5:10
physical connection that we get so I'll
5:12
share a little bit about my personal
5:14
experience both as the client and as the
5:16
therapist uh that we learned about
5:18
during the pandemic so of course my
5:21
therapist switched to online therapy
5:23
when we were in the covid uh times and
5:27
at first I was like this is kind of
5:28
weird I'm not so sure about it but uh it
5:31
really felt liberating to have sessions
5:34
uh from my home I didn't have to travel
5:36
up to Scottdale where my therapist was
5:38
but I did miss some of the things about
5:40
the ambience of being in the therapist's
5:42
office and feeling that sense of
5:45
connection and of course there's that
5:47
energetic share of having that
5:49
transference energy of being in presence
5:51
with somebody and also the space that
5:54
had been established for me in her
5:56
office you know I lost that so now I
5:58
have associations with with you know my
6:00
home office or a bedroom or some of
6:02
these other places that I did therapy
6:04
from and that's not necessarily the most
6:06
ideal situation but it definitely worked
6:09
now in my case my therapist opted not to
6:11
return to an in-person setting so I have
6:13
remained online and I get really
6:16
effective work done in my online therapy
6:18
setting now I will say that as a
6:20
therapist I experienced absolute change
6:23
for my clients I was able to still
6:26
create uh the connection and
6:30
uh the safety and people were able to do
6:33
really really good work myself as the
6:35
therapist and treating people online but
6:38
I have to say something I didn't expect
6:40
to have happen as the therapist is the
6:43
energetic connection that I felt that
6:46
was that was about what I got from being
6:48
a Helper and being in a helping position
6:51
that was gone in the same way that it
6:54
wasn't the same as it was when I was in
6:56
person and I noticed that I was more
6:58
physically tired
7:00
I'm an extrovert and I gain energy from
7:02
being with others and so for me that I
7:04
noticed was a real change in my energy
7:06
level being online but I have to say
7:09
that there were several clients that I
7:11
worked with where there was a shift that
7:14
helped people move past stuck stuff when
7:17
they went online so some of my clients
7:19
which I didn't even know had become a
7:22
little overly Reliant or dependent on me
7:25
during our in-person sessions and so
7:27
when they were forced to go online and
7:29
they had to become more autonomous um
7:32
which I didn't realize was happening uh
7:35
they became more autonomous they became
7:37
more independent they became more
7:39
self-reliant and whatever part of them
7:42
was falling into a dependent strategy in
7:45
our relationship that was sort of
7:47
removed and people were able to heal in
7:50
ways that we weren't achieving in the
7:52
same kind of cadence uh in person so
7:55
some things came out of it that I didn't
7:57
expect to see and I found it really
7:59
fascinating another concern that you
8:01
have to think about when choosing tella
8:04
Health versus in person are privacy
8:06
concerns online therapy requires a
8:08
private space you have to set some
8:10
boundaries with the people in your life
8:12
and in your family uh Whispering from a
8:15
closet is not ideal for deep therapeutic
8:17
work although I have to say that during
8:19
Co I did work with a couple people who
8:21
found themselves in their closet with
8:22
the do shut and we had clothes behind
8:25
them because that was how they could get
8:26
the most privacy and you know Sound
8:28
Reduction so have to consider your
8:30
surroundings and ensure that you have
8:31
quiet confidential space uh for your
8:34
sessions so that you can get the most
8:36
out of your experience because when we
8:38
have those distractions in our personal
8:40
lives it interrupts your sanctity of
8:42
your healing space so you have to
8:45
definitely be comfortable enough to set
8:47
boundaries otherwise you're going to get
8:48
interrupted then there's some advantages
8:50
too like maybe you have an animal that
8:52
can lay by you during your session and
8:55
um offer some emotional support where
8:58
before you uh wouldn't have had that and
9:02
so we've learned a lot about the pros
9:04
and cons of being in some of those uh
9:07
alternate spaces rather than being in
9:09
the office specifically now as a
9:12
therapist something I noticed is the
9:14
non-verbal communication is a bit harder
9:16
to see as the therapist um and my client
9:19
is online uh because we really are
9:23
responsible for following direct access
9:25
for things like body language facial
9:27
expressions and even energy I can feel
9:30
energy when someone comes in before they
9:31
say a single word and I'm like what's
9:33
going on so these cues can enhance our
9:36
therapeutic relationship and they can't
9:38
fully be replicated online and so that
9:41
um you know let's say I'm working with
9:42
someone and they slouch in their chair
9:45
but I can't really tell online so I
9:47
can't tell they're falling into a bit of
9:48
a low or shame posture or maybe
9:52
everything from the waist up looks great
9:54
but their foot is profoundly moving and
9:57
they have a really strong fidget
9:58
response that I can't see online and
10:00
that's really important information as a
10:02
therapist so it's a little harder to
10:04
pick up on some of those subtle cues in
10:05
an online setting um but you know with
10:08
good Attunement which you can do as a
10:10
therapist online we can uh we can
10:13
achieve a pretty good understanding
10:15
about what's happening in those
10:16
non-verbal cues now we want to talk
10:18
about convenience and accessibility
10:20
there are people that live in really
10:21
remote areas and they don't have access
10:24
to good therapists or geographical
10:26
barriers and so being able to just get
10:28
online and have have access like let's
10:30
say I live in the outskirts of somewhere
10:32
in New York and I can have access to all
10:35
the therapists in New York City my
10:37
possibilities of getting good competent
10:39
quality help have drastically improved
10:42
so that's one really positive uh aspect
10:45
people that were formerly not able to
10:47
see someone because of those
10:49
geographical constraints now have that
10:51
opportunity uh flexibility is not uh
10:54
something we can ignore as well I have
10:56
clients that you know even though we
10:58
moved back into in person they will
11:00
still opt for online settings depending
11:02
on their work schedule or their travel
11:04
time or their uh other uh things that
11:07
are in their calendar that they need to
11:09
manage and modify they're able to go can
11:11
I just do online today or I have a child
11:14
care issue and I can't leave the kiddo
11:15
at home but I don't want to cancel my
11:16
session so I'm going to jump online so
11:18
that convenience can really be a
11:20
positive thing for people in our busy
11:23
lives comfort's something you want to
11:25
think about too do I want to be in an
11:27
office or do I feel anxious or over
11:29
overwhelmed when I have to drive or when
11:30
I have to be in a space with more people
11:34
or if I have to wait in a waiting room
11:35
for a long time if I can just stay in my
11:37
own office and I have the Privacy that I
11:40
can offer myself for the situation and I
11:43
don't have to worry about uh discussing
11:45
sensitive to topics uh in my environment
11:48
that is really comfortable but there's
11:51
you know the disadvantage of if there's
11:52
an emergency or a crisis if you're
11:55
online we need to be able to have
11:57
someone that we can call to help help
11:59
you cope with something because
12:01
ultimately we can't physically be in
12:02
your presence one of the considerations
12:05
that I have found to be most frustrating
12:07
for some of my clients uh and for them
12:09
to find frustrating is the technological
12:11
requirements so if if someone doesn't
12:14
have good internet or they don't have um
12:16
they live in a rural area and they don't
12:18
have uh consistent uh Power internet
12:21
issues online therapy can create a
12:23
little bit of difficulty uh while at the
12:26
same time the pro of that is I don't
12:28
have to do a long Comm if I'm in a rural
12:30
setting and that can be a a positive so
12:32
you have to look at both pros and cons
12:35
something that I've noticed but not all
12:37
too much is that costs can be different
12:40
so in a space we have a lot more
12:42
overhead whereas if I'm a therapist that
12:44
just works at home I don't have to
12:45
necessarily pay rent and so I might be
12:47
able to offer therapy at a lesser cost
12:51
and uh we don't have to add travel
12:52
expenses and all the other additional
12:54
expenses involved with running an office
12:57
so remember that whether you choose
12:58
online or inperson therapy what matters
13:01
most is finding a supportive space where
13:03
you can heal and grow you still want to
13:05
interview the therapist you still want
13:07
to make sure a fit is part of it and I
13:09
would say the best case scenario if you
13:11
can find this is an in-person therapist
13:14
that you can go online if you choose to
13:16
or an online therapist where you can
13:18
come in and do intensive work for a
13:20
couple hours at a time every couple
13:22
three months just to get both
13:24
experiences that's the ideal sweet spot
13:27
if possible but ultimately getting help
13:29
is better than not getting help so um
13:32
make sure that you uh reach out if you
13:35
want help there's lots of good U places
13:37
to find help online and in person and if
13:41
you're looking for an inperson therapist
13:43
that does EMDR therapy check out
13:45
mrea.org where you can filter on your
13:48
ZIP code uh you can also look at
13:50
Psychology today and filter on your ZIP
13:52
code your insurance uh people who do
13:54
teleah health or not and you can find
13:56
people in that way thank you so much for
13:58
tuning in I hope this helps you
14:00
determine whether or not you decide to
14:02
find an online or an in-person therapist
14:05
and what we want is that you get the
14:07
help you deserve because everyone uh
14:09
deserves freedom and peace and healing
14:12
and until next time I hope that you move
14:15
forward leading with love because it'll
14:17
never steer you wrong
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[Music]
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oh
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[Music]
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