How Online Psychology can help with Behavioural Health Matters

Online counseling and online therapy are becoming increasingly popular in today's tech-savvy society, but many people are still skeptical about it because it is relatively new.

We are just used to sharing our feelings, and our problems with real human beings face to face, and doing it with the help of technology seems a bit alien. So the main question is, are online psychologists a real deal?

The answer is definitely yes.

Online psychologists are real mental health professionals who have appropriate qualifications and experience, and they can help you deal with a variety of mental health matters.

Therapy available online includes family therapy, play therapy, cognitive therapy, and, last but not least, behavioral therapy.

The National Institute of Health conducted a study and discovered that people who regularly attended online therapy sessions experience a noticeable improvement in their mental health.

This is not surprising because online psychologists can do exactly the same things as face-to-face psychologists. They just do it over the internet.

1. What is behavioral psychology?

Behavioral psychology is based on the idea that all behavior is acquired by human beings through conditioning, which occurs when we interact with our environment.

According to behavioral psychologists, the way we respond to the environmental stimuli shapes our actions. Behavioral psychologists believe that any person can be trained to perform any task regardless of their current personality traits or genetic background.

2. What can online behavioral psychologists do to help you?

Behavioral psychologists can observe your behavioral patterns and interpret them in order to diagnose specific disorders. After this, they can create a personalized treatment plan that will address your behavioral problems.

They work closely with their clients, and because the online videoconferencing technology is rather developed today, behavioral psychologists can be accessed without leaving the comfort of your own home.

Your therapist can help you overcome your acquired bad habits (such as various types of addictions).

In addition, your therapist may help you overcome different types of phobias and manage your anxiety and panic attacks. They can also help their patients with impulse control.

At first, your online therapist will conduct an interview with you in order to gather as much information about your symptoms as possible and correctly identify your particular disorder and the level of its severity. 

It is important to be as open as possible with your therapist and provide them with accurate information to the best of your knowledge.

If they don’t have the facts they cannot help you, they cannot identify the root of your problem, and they cannot recommend any treatment options (or worse, if you lie or withhold vital information they may recommend and inappropriate method of treatment).

3. Advantages.

Online psychology has many advantages compared to the traditional face to face approach.

Probably the most obvious advantage of online counseling is that you can hire any psychologist you like no matter where they are in the world.

And because you don't have to leave your home, you can have shorter sessions more times per week, or you can even have short online counseling sessions during lunch breaks at work.

Also, in some countries, there is still some social stigma attached to behavioral psychology, so online therapy encourages even the shy, reluctant people to participate by being more discreet (compared to the time-consuming and relatively more noticeable face-to-face therapy).

4. Online therapy sessions.

When you're having a session with your psychologist, you need to discuss all of your behavioral problems openly and trust them to guide you through the process.

A reputable behavioral therapist will use sound methods and practices such as dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, and other practices that have been recognized by the psychological community for their benefits.

A good online therapist must keep your personal information private and secure. Also, these sessions between the psychologist and the patient are confidential, so you will not have to worry about the information about your personal problems becoming public.

Moreover, in some cases, it is possible for a patient to remain anonymous and not reveal their identity to their therapists; however, they will need to provide true information about their behavioral patterns if they want to achieve positive results.

Depending on the severity of your situation, you will need to book multiple sessions with your therapist. During the sessions, your therapist will ask you relevant questions to nudge you towards the correct revelations.

At the end of the session, your therapist will typically give you an assignment that you have to fulfill until your next session. The assignment may include noticing a particular behavior in yourself or in others, or they may teach you a certain technique that you must try to use every day.

5. Some other pros of online psychology.

There are some other perks connected to online therapy that are not available to face-to-face patients.

An online psychologist may give you a private chat room through which you can send them messages 24-hours a day. This service is especially helpful if you want to describe and have a record of your emotions in real time.

Your psychologists will read these messages, and it will help them make a more accurate assessment of the emotional state that guides your behavior.

6. Does your health insurance cover online therapy?

Some health insurance providers are now recognizing the importance of online therapy and will cover the cost, whereas others are still resisting updating their plans.

Luckily many licensed online therapists offer relatively affordable services. This happens because they do not have to rent offices to conduct their sessions; they can work from the comfort of their own home.

If you have decided to address your behavioral health matters through online therapy, you can visit reputable websites that will connect you to licensed psychologists, such as https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/psychologists/.

All trustworthy psychologists should display proof of all of their qualifications on their profile page for all their prospective patients to see.