Is Phone Therapy as Effective as Face-to-Face Therapy?
Depression is a very common, debilitating disease that affects millions of people around the world. Research shows that depression is more common among rich countries than in poor ones – France and US taking the lead. Fortunately, there are plenty of treatments available, and one of the most effective is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Phone therapy for depression
CBT has been shown to improve quality of life, reduce psychological stress, and alleviate the symptoms of depression. But for many reasons, particularly the lack of therapists, many patients of depressive disorders seek help from their GPs, while others don’t get any treatment at all. For others, seeing a psychotherapist weekly for several months can be very inconvenient.
Because of this, phone-based CBT rose into popularity. Through it, clients no longer need to drive to their therapist’s office to attend counselling sessions. Right in the comfort of their home or office, they can talk to their therapists with ease.
But when it comes to result, is phone therapy as good as the face-to-face therapy? This is what the researchers from Northwestern University tried to answer.
Their findings, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people were more likely to go with telephone-based therapy than with in-person therapy. Nearly 21% of the respondents who were randomly assigned to telephone therapy stopped getting treatment as compared to the 31% of those who were assigned to undergo in-person therapy. The researchers concluded that the convenience of a phone therapy made people stay in treatment for much longer.
The study continued for 18 weeks. When the researchers assessed the results of the treatments, both the phone and in-person therapy produced substantial outcome. About 27% from each group were considered to be in full recovery from depression – meaning, they had fewer or no residual symptoms at all.
But when it comes to depression relapse, it appears that those who went through a face-to-face therapy have more edge. When the participants were evaluated after 6 months, the face-to-face group showed slightly fewer depression symptoms than the phone therapy group.
So which one is better?
Basically, both the in-person and phone-based therapies are effective in their own ways. While clinical interactions remain to be the ‘gold standard’ in treating patients with depressive illnesses, phone therapies can be a great option too, especially for people who live far away from their therapists, those who are not comfortable to confide in person, and those who are looking for a more convenient way to seek help.
Some practitioners say CBT treatments become more effective when they are able to see their clients face-to-face. Certainly, there are emotional cues that words could not convey. These include the facial expressions, bodily movements and the like. Perhaps, combining in-person and phone-based sessions can be effective and at the same time convenient for the client. The use of web-based applications that allow clients and therapists to see each other might also help.
Dear Readers,
Based on your experience as a therapist, which do you recommend for depression patients – in-person therapy or phone-based therapy? Why?
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