Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T16:08:05.737Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Cybertherapeutic Theory and Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
John Suler
Edited by
Azy Barak
John Suler
Affiliation:
Rider University
Azy Barak
Affiliation:
University of Haifa, Israel
Get access

Summary

A new and rather surprising door in the history of the mental health field has opened. Professionals have begun to explore methods for using online environments to help people. How do these methods compare to in-person interventions? Although face-to-face approaches may be advantageous in many cases, there are some advantages to computer-mediated and online interventions. One obvious and frequently cited benefit that applies to all forms of online work is the opportunity to reach people who are unable to visit the professional for geographical, physical, or lifestyle reasons. Computer-mediated work also may be an important initial step in the establishment of what could become an ongoing, in-person treatment. Other advantages, as I'll discuss later, are specific to particular types of online interventions.

In writing this chapter, I decided not to organize it around the concept of psychotherapy. After all, what do we mean by that term? If we assembled a group of psychotherapists to discuss this question, we would be lucky if they came to any agreement other than a very general definition about psychotherapy as a service in which a professional helps a person with a problem. That controversy exists even before we toss cyberspace into the debate. Whether we call it psychotherapy or not, there have been many approaches over the past 100 years for applying psychological principles to the delivery of mental health services. Now cyberspace offers even more possibilities – many never dreamed of in the past.

Type
Chapter
Information
Psychological Aspects of Cyberspace
Theory, Research, Applications
 , pp. 102 - 128
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anthony, K. (2004). Therapy online – the therapeutic relationship in typed text. In Bolton, G., Howlett, S., Lago, C., & Wright, J. K. (Eds.), Writing cures: An introductory handbook of writing in counselling and psychotherapy (pp. 133–141). Hove, East Sussex, UK: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Anthony, K., & Goss, S. (2003). Ethical thinking in online therapy. In Hill, D. (Ed.), Forms of ethical thinking in therapeutic practice (pp. 50–66). London, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Barak, A., & Buchanan, T. (2004). Internet-based psychological testing and assessment. In Kraus, R., Zack, J., & Stricker, G. (Eds.), Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals (pp. 217–239). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, J. E., & Scheetz, K. (2003). Technological advances and telehealth: Ethics, law, and the practice of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40, 86–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellafiore, D. R., Colòn, Y., & Rosenberg, P. (2004). Online counseling groups. In Kraus, R., Zack, J., & Stricker, G. (Eds.), Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals (pp. 197–216). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Casteel, M. A. (2003). Teaching students to evaluate Web information as they learn about psychological disorders. Teaching of Psychology, 30, 258–260.Google Scholar
Chang, T. (2005). Online counseling: Prioritizing psychoeducation, self-help, and mutual help for counseling psychology research and practice. Counseling Psychologist, 33, 881–890.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chechele, P. J., & Stofle, G. (2003). Individual therapy online via email and Internet relay chat. In Goss, S. & Anthony, K. (Eds.), Technology in counselling and psychotherapy: A practitioner's guide (pp. 39–58). Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childress, C. A. (1999). Interactive e-mail journals: A model of providing psychotherapeutic intervention using the Internet. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2, 213–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davison, K. P., Pennebaker, J. W., & Dickerson, S. S. (2000). Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups. American Psychologist, 55, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Day, S. X., & Schneider, P. L. (2002). Psychotherapy using distance technology: A comparison of face-to-face, video, and audio treatment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 499–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, J., & Klinkenberg, W. D. (2001). From Eliza to Internet: A brief history of computerized assessment. Computers in Human Behavior, 17, 295–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, J. (1995). Computer-based self-help groups: A new resource to supplement support groups. Social Work with Groups, 18, 109–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaggioli, A., Mantovani, F., Castelnuovo, G., Wiederhold, B., & Riva, G. (2003). Avatars in clinical psychology: A framework for the clinical use of virtual humans. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 6, 117–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gendlin, E. (1982). Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Glantz, K., Rizzo, S. A., & Graap, K. (2003). Virtual reality for psychotherapy: Current reality and future possibilities. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40, 55–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glueckauf, R. L., Fritz, S. P., Ecklund-Johnson, E. P., Liss, H. J., Dages, P., & Carney, P. (2002). Videoconferencing-based family counseling for rural teenagers with epilepsy: Phase 1 findings. Rehabilitation Psychology, 47, 49–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godin, S., Truschel, J., & Singh, V. (2005). Assessing quality assurance of self-help sites on the Internet. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 29, 67–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goss, S., & Anthony, K. (2004). Ethical and practical dimensions of online writing cures. In Bolton, G., Howlett, S., Lago, C., & Wright, J. K. (Eds.), Writing cures: An introductory handbook of writing in counselling and psychotherapy (pp. 170–178). Hove, East Sussex, UK: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Greenfield, D. (1999). Virtual addiction. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.Google Scholar
Griffiths, K. M., & Christensen, H. (2000). Quality of web based information on treatment of depression: Cross sectional survey. British Medical Journal, 321, 1511–1519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hsiung, R. C. (2000). The best of both worlds: An online self-help group hosted by a mental health professional. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 935–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiung, R. C. (2002). Suggested principles of professional ethics for e-therapy. In Hsiung, R. C. (Ed.), e-Therapy: Case studies, guiding principles and the clinical potential of the Internet (pp. 150–165). New York: Norton.Google Scholar
ISMHO Clinical Case Study Group. (Suler, J., lead author). (2001). Assessing a person's suitability for online therapy. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 4, 675–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jencius, M., & Sager, D. E. (2001). The practice of marriage and family counseling in cyberspace. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 9, 295–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, A. J. (2000). Community building on the web. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.Google Scholar
King, S. A., Engi, S., & Poulos, S. T. (1998). Using the Internet to assist family therapy. British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 26, 43–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, S. A., & Moreggi, D. (1998). Internet therapy and self-help groups: The pros and cons. In Gackenbach, J., (Ed.), Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications (pp. 77–109). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kraus, R. (2004). Ethical and legal considerations for providers of mental health services online. In Kraus, R., Zack, J., & Stricker, G. (Eds.), Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals (pp. 123–144). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Madara, E. J. (1997). The mutual-aid self-help online revolution. Social Policy, 27(3), 20–26.Google Scholar
Manchanda, M., & Mclaren, P. (1998). Cognitive behaviour therapy via interactive video. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 4(Suppl. 1), 53–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morahan-Martin, J. M. (2000). How Internet users find, evaluate, and use online health information: A cross-cultural review. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7, 497–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morahan-Martin, J., & Anderson, C. D. (2000). Information and misinformation online: Recommendations for facilitating accurate mental health information retrieval and evaluation. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 731–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, L. J., & Mitchell, D. L. (1998). When writing helps to heal: E-mail as therapy. British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 26, 21–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouellette, P. M., & Sells, S. (2001). Creating a telelearning community for training social work practitioners working with troubled youth and their families. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 18, 101–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmiter, D. Jr., & Renjilian, D. (2003). Clinical web pages: Do they meet expectations? Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 34, 164–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, S. L. (2006). Internet counseling and its feasibility for marriage and family counseling. Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 14, 65–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ragusea, A. S., & VandeCreek, L. (2003). Suggestions for the ethical practice of online psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40, 94–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, C. S., & Stone, S. (2005). Therapeutic alliance in face-to-face versus videoconferenced psychotherapy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 649–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rheingold, H. (2000). The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Riessman, F. (1965). The helper therapy principle. Social Work 10, 26–32.Google Scholar
Riva, G. (2000). From telehealth to e-health: Internet and distributed virtual reality in health care. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 989–998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riva, G. (2003). Virtual environments in clinical psychology. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40, 68–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salem, A. D., Bogat, G. A., & Reid, C. (1997). Mutual help goes on-line. Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 189–207.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sander, F. M. (1999). Couples group therapy conducted via computer-mediated communication: A preliminary case study. Computers in Human Behavior, 12, 301–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuemie, M. J., Straaten, P., Krijn, M., & Mast, C. A. P. G. (2001). Research on presence in virtual reality: A survey. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4, 183–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, S. (2003). Video counselling and psychotherapy in practice. In Goss, S. & Anthony, K. (Eds.), Technology in counselling and psychotherapy: A practitioner's guide (pp. 109–128). Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stofle, G. S. (2002). Chat room therapy. In Hsiung, R. C. (Ed.), e-Therapy: Case studies, guiding principles and the clinical potential of the Internet (pp. 92–135). New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Suler, J. (1984). The role of ideology in self-help groups. Social Policy 12, 29–36.Google ScholarPubMed
Suler, J. (1987). Computer-simulated psychotherapy as an aid in teaching clinical psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 14, 37–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suler, J. (1989). Mental imagery in psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 6, 343–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suler, J. (1999). To get what you need: Healthy and pathological Internet use. CyberPsychology and Behavior 2, 385–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suler, J. (2000). Psychotherapy in cyberspace: A 5-dimension model of online and computer-mediated psychotherapy. CyberPsychology and Behavior 3, 151–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suler, J. (2004a). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology and Behavior 7, 321–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suler, J. (2004b). The psychology of text relationships. In Kraus, R., Zack, J., & Stricker, G. (Eds.), Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals (pp. 19–50). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Suler, J. (2005). eQuest: Case study of a comprehensive online program for self-study and personal growth. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 8, 379–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suler, J. (2006). The psychology of cyberspace. Retrieved on June 1, 2007, from www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/psycyber.html (originally published 1995).
Tichon, J. G., & Shapiro, M. (2003). The process of sharing social support in cyberspace. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 6, 161–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberg, H. (2001). Group process and group phenomena on the Internet. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 51, 361–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiederhold, B. K., & Wiederhold, M. D. (1998). A review of virtual reality as a psychotherapeutic tool. Cyber psychology & Behavior, 1, 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, J. (2002). Online counselling: learning from writing therapy. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 30, 285–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yalom, I. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Young, K. (1998). Caught in the net. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, E. (2003). Finding, evaluating, and incorporating Internet self-help resources into psychotherapy practice. Journal of Clinical psychology, 59, 217–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×