What are benefits of phone psychotherapy?

Several..for many...: Though controversial, i find phone/skype sessions (as main service or complementary to face-to-face) very helpful in many instances: 1)if high anxiety is a central issue that could get in the way of a patient making it to the office 2)if transportation is an issue 3)if patient is out of town and needing to keep up with therapy process 4)for 2nd opinion, treatment planning or general consultation.

Phone Therapy: Tough question, since "direct human service" is generally face-to-face and one misses non-verbal cues and nuances if not looking at the patient while speaking. However, sometimes, work takes a patient away, and there is a need to connect with the therapist. In these cases, an occasional phone session can be extremely helpful and reassuring to the patient.

Different opinions: Skype or ft or other videoconferencing (vc) methods are as effective as face to face--after an in-person relationship has been established. However, if this is not possible, vc therapy is much better than no therapy, and a good vc therapeutic relationship is much better than a poor one in person! so it's a trade off. A caveat: emergency intervention can be difficult online.

Phone Therapy: Phone therapy can be effective when people are unable to meet in person, especially if you have met your therapist in person. It does not work well when people want to use the phone to avoid the person to person contact out of anxiety and fear of judgement. In other words its effectiveness depends on the whether it is practical or an avoidance.Best.

Thanks for asking!: However, telepsychiatry [ video conferencing], can be as effective especially if direct face to face is not practical for some reason. In some cases it can actually lessen defenses.

It depends: For some, online counseling or telephone psychotherapycan be effective, Check your state laws to see if it is legal in the state you happen to live in. Generally speaking, counseling in person is best. One cannot substitute in-person body language and facial expressions with online interaction.