5 Things You Should Know Before Considering Virtual Counseling

Virtual counseling is the online source of counseling to improve a client's mental health. It is provided by a professional counselor, using a communication device through the internet rather than face-to-face interaction. That counselor may be a psychiatrist, family therapist, psychologist, educational counselor, pharmacotherapist, or career counselor.

Any kind of therapy which doesn't need physical testing can be done by virtual counseling. It is also known as online counseling, teletherapy, e-therapy, and web counseling. Due to Covid-19, many travel restrictions lead you to the failure of many plans, including your treatment; that makes you more depressed. So, virtual counseling is the indoor treatment of your anxiety and depression, which are most common these days. In Canada, face-to-face access of individuals with mental health professionals dropped to 4% from 22% in the pandemic, but online treatment almost doubled.

According to Metanoia, "Ask Uncle Ezra" was the world's 1st online advice column for students, launched in 1986. After that, a long line of fee-based sites appeared, providing different kinds of counseling programs. I want to call a group's name here "Samaritans" which worked to provide awareness about suicide in youngsters between 1994 and 2002.

And now, the online counseling programs are increasing day by day. The flexibility of online counseling makes it more adaptable and effective and attracts the clients as well as the mental health counselors or therapists. Research by the Journal of Effective Disorders has shown that online treatment is as effective as in-person. In 2018, the Journal of Anxiety Disorders concluded that virtual counseling is acceptable and effective same as regular face-to-face therapy.

1. What is Virtual counseling?

In times of Covid, online from home services are best for us to avail. Getting things done at home without going out has many other advantages too. Like, it can cut down the price of transportation, saves your time, and so on.

The term virtual counseling means counseling session done online on some internet-connected device. A therapist or a counselor does 1-1 session with the client online without physically going there to the counselor. This process can be very convenient, but many questions can come to a person's mind. Like, can it be as effective as in-person counseling? Or does it even worth my time?

2. What are Benefits and drawbacks of virtual counseling?

- Benefits of virtual counseling

Virtual counseling can be very convenient as it does not require you to preplan anything. You have to sit in front of your device without going anywhere. Moreover, it can be accessed from anywhere in the world. You need to have your smart device connected to the internet. The client's privacy is also protected in virtual counseling as there is no one around besides the therapist and client.

Further, virtual counseling can be less expensive when compared with in-person sessions as it can cut down the cost of transportation, and other expenses like room charges, etc. And the most obvious benefit of virtual counseling is that it is a huge time saver. You don't have to take an hour-long ride to the therapist and wait there for the therapist to come.

- Drawbacks of virtual counseling

Virtual counseling can also be unfavorable in instances when you don't have a network that functions well. It can also affect the client-therapist relationship as the therapist might not be able to catch the actual body language of the client. Or, when the therapist gets a delayed response from the client due to any network issue, it can also hinder the Effectiveness.

Moreover, finding an authentic and certified therapist is also a challenging part of virtual counseling. We often hear that data has been stolen or hacked from this or that site, and it is not some big of a thing nowadays. So, virtual counseling also has the potential that it can leak the client's data.

3. Virtual therapy VS. In-person therapy

As humans, we all need therapy at one time or the other. It is an important segment of one's life. Therapy means attempted remediation of a health problem following diagnosis, and it is usually synonymous with treatment, and in order, words can be said to be a healing power. Therapy often comes in two forms; it could either be virtual therapy or in-person therapy.

- Advantages of Online therapy (virtual therapy)

Virtual therapy is the use of virtual reality or a help simulated in a computer or online. It can also be said to be the use of technological devices or means like video conferencing software, via email, or an application, like Facebook or Whatsapp Etc, to seek treatment. These system options allow people to seek treatment in the comfort of their own homes without traveling to see a therapist.

• Expenses - eliminating the cost such as travel or child care (employing a nanny to watch over one's child while being away).

• Availability: Virtual therapy is easily accessible; it is said to be an easy access therapy for those living in remote areas, therefore going online to search for help is the best option.

• Convenience: Online therapy is convenient, as it is always done at one's convenient time; virtual therapy can be attended at any time and anywhere.

• Advance Comfort: It reduces stigma, as no one would know what you are going through as an individual; people feel more comfortable discussing their mental health at home.

- Advantages of In-person therapy (face to face therapy)

Virtual therapy was said earlier to be a treatment that does not require physical contact or laboratory testing. An in-person therapy session takes place in a therapist's office where you can see the therapist face-to-face. In-person therapy can be referred to as a treatment in which the presence of the parties is required. It is therefore said to be a natural treatment.

• Tackle Trust Issue: In-person therapy is important because, at times, therapy cannot work without trust, so because the therapeutic relationship is based on trust, which can be harder to build online, in-person treatment is important.

• Focus stability - some people lose focus quickly, so visiting the therapist at the agreed place would allow fewer home distractions.

• Technology Advantages: There would be less or no worry about technology because there is no need to use it since it is physical therapy.

It is also essential to note that some mental health disorders may not be able to be treated in a virtual setting, so in-person therapy is often ideal in those cases. Virtual therapy also makes it possible for people to continue treatment, whether they are quarantined due to covid-19, unable to leave home at that time, or live in an area where services are limited.

4. Virtual counseling - Medical uses/Effectiveness

Virtual counseling, also known as virtual therapy, is a discussion or meeting that happens by means of the telephone, an application, a video talk, or even an augmented experience gadget. These virtual treatment choices permit individuals to look for treatment in the solace of their own home without venturing out to see an advisor face to face. A virtual treatment is a kind of telemedicine. It incorporates any therapy that an individual looks for through an electronic gadget.

A few examples of virtual treatment include: conversing with an expert through video conferencing, scheduled therapy through an application, telephone, and email-based therapies, like when an actual advisor recommends explicit activities through email, the utilization of online gadgets to evaluate customers or patients distantly — for example when a language teacher utilizes online apparatuses to achieve progress.

Firstly Medicine can be a treatment or can also be termed as an administered drug. In this current age, medical health is very important, and it is necessary to be in stable health.

Anxiety is known as the reaction of the body to stress, which means that the body is said to be in an anxious state when it is stressed. According to global research, there are five major types of anxiety disorder:

• Panic Disorder.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

• Social Phobia ( Social Anxiety Disorder).

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

5. Five Major Types of Mental Disorder

1. Anxiety

The common symptoms of anxiety are; Feeling nervous, restlessness, sense of impending danger, panic or doom, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, Sweating, Trembling, Feeling weak or tired, trouble concentrating, or thinking about anything other than the present worry.

2. Depression

Depression is known as a kind of emotional disorder due to sadness. There are a lot of causes of these; a few of them are; Hearing sad news, Loss of a loved one, Abuse (sexual, emotional), gender, and so on.

3. Trauma

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, robbery, loss of properties, etc. It is also synonymous with depression and has similar causes and symptoms.

4. Nutrition counseling

Nutritional counseling works for environmental and personal improvement. Where counselors prescribe a balanced diet to an individual, good nutrition helps you maintain your strong immune, healthy figure, and positive mental health. With the assistance of an advisor, you can utilize your body internally to build a robust immune system to expend energy, develop rest quality, resistant framework, support mindset, help in concentration, and decrease sickness.

5. Cessation & Research

Effectiveness in Medicine is the capacity of medication (for instance, medication or medical procedure) to create the ideal advantageous outcome. In a nutshell, Medical uses or Effectiveness can be termed utilizing Medicine and being free from illness.

friendly Conclusion

A virtual treatment is an incredible alternative when an individual is not likely to venture out from home or get swamped with a pile of corporate files. Similarly, like some other treatments, some people look at the counsellor certifications, build up clear objectives, compare improvements to figure out whether it is working, and switch suppliers if the therapy is incapable.