Remote therapy, sometimes called telemental health applications[1] or Internet-based psychotherapy,[2] is a form of psychotherapy or related psychological practice in which a trained psychotherapist meets with a client or patient via telephone, cellular phone, the internet or other electronic media in place of or in addition to conventional face-to-face psychotherapy.
Initially, it was primarily intended a substitution for conventional, face-to-face therapy in which a client or patient is required to visit a psychotherapists office. Increasingly, however, academics are studying the use of electronic media in treatment to explore the possibility of providing novel and potentially more effective therapies.
After reviewing thirteen relevant studies, the authors of a meta-analytic review of psychotherapy mediated by remote communications technology concluded that:
Remote therapy has the potential to overcome some of the barriers to conventional psychological therapy services. Telephone-based interventions are a particularly popular research focus and as a means of therapeutic communication may confer specific advantages in terms of their widespread availability and ease of operation. However, the available evidence is limited in quantity and quality. More rigorous trials are required to confirm these preliminary estimates of effectiveness.[3]