Journal of Patient Care

Abstract

Use of Online Therapy among Spanish Psychologists

González-Peña P, del Barrio V, Olmedo M and Torres R

Teletherapy is the practice of psychology using technology that makes it possible to interact with a client at a distance (telephone, e-mail, Twitter, Internet, WhatsApp, etc.) without face-to-face contact. Online therapy is a part of the widely used online therapy psychology. We try to know the situation in Spanish psychologists. An e-mailed survey was applied to evaluate use that the Spanish psychologists make of information and communication technologies alongside his attitudes. The sample was 486 psychologists who answered a questionnaire we made with previous literture reviews regarding the same topic. Only 26% use teletherapy as other combined modality therapy with face to face. The drawbacks encountered are primarily the limitations of non-verbal communication and the therapeutic alliance, followed by the confidentiality of the data and technical problems in handling them. As has occurred in many other fields, North American psychologists (from both the US and Canada), as well as from other countries like Australia and New Zealand, have been a pioneering force in this field.