Q: What is internet therapy?

A: Internet therapy is a way for people to have access to psychotherapy in the privacy of their homes or offices. Simply sit down at your computer, click on the internet, and you are there. You have the option of communicating with me via email at(doctor@livingcenter.net) and getting a quick response, usually within 24 hours, and then starting online sessions. Or you can arrange to have private face-to-face sessions on the internet or voice-to-voice sessions by telephone.

Q: Is it confidential?

A: Yes, it’s completely confidential. Therapists are bound by ethical rules not to divulge anything that a client says to them.

Q:How much does it cost?

A: The consultation, which is your first email and my response to it, is free. After that, we will set up regular online sessions for which I will charge a fee that depends on your financial situation. The wonderful thing about internet therapy is that it gives those who don’t have access to therapy—for example, those in rural areas or those in countries where psychotherapy is not as available—a chance to talk about their problems.

Q: Is internet therapy real therapy? Don’t you have to go to a therapist’s office to do real therapy?

A: Yes, internet therapy is real therapy. Indeed, it’s now possible to have video and audio on the internet, so that therapy sessions can be done live, and the two participants can see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices. However, for those clients who don’t have cameras and microphones hooked up to their computers, the text-only chats are cumbersome. Eventually, I encourage them to have telephone sessions and, if they are in the New York area, to come in to my office.

Q: What are the benefits of internet therapy?

A: Internet therapy allows people instant access to therapy in the comforts of their own home. No appointments are necessary, and it is available 24 hours a day. It provides people who are shy with a means to “wade into the water” and try it out, and it gives people in remote areas access to therapy.

Q: Are there any disadvantages of internet therapy? Can it be harmful?

A: The main disadvantage of internet therapy is that it is not a person-to-person therapy conducted in an office. In order to have maximum effect, a therapist needs to have control over as many variables as possible. When a client comes to a therapist’s office, the therapist not only hears the client speak, but also sees the client’s body language. Also, since the client has come to the therapist’s office (and is in the therapist’s territory), this gives the therapist more impact on the client. Hence, the therapy becomes more powerful and more effective. As for internet therapy being harmful, there is a potential for that. Anybody can go on the internet and pass himself or herself off as a therapist and give advice that may be misguided. So the client should make sure that the therapist has the proper credentials.

Q: Are you a real therapist? What are your qualifications for doing internet therapy?

A: Yes, I’m a real therapist. I’m a certified psychoanalyst, registered with the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (www.naap.org), licensed in the state of Vermont, and a member of the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org). I’m the author of 13 books (see Books by Dr. Schoenewolf), Adjunct Assistant Professor of psychology at Hunter College and Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Adjunct Associate Professor at New York Institute of Technology in New York. I have been doing therapy for 23 years. Internet therapy is simply another way of doing therapy, so the qualifications for doing internet therapy are the same as for regular therapy.