Internet-Based Psychotherapy Actually Works
Internet therapy Dreamstime/ Joey Carmichael Its effects may even last longer than face-to-face therapy, new research suggests. Lying on your therapist's couch might be a thing of the past. Why bother, when you could duke it out with your depression by the pool? Online-based therapy could help patients overcome barriers to treatment like long distances to clinics, long waiting times or the fear of stigma associated with seeking treatment for depression. And new research shows it can be just as useful to reduce depression as in-person treatments. A study from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the University of Leipzig in Germany published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that internet-based psychotherapy could be just as beneficial as therapy of the traditional lying-on-the-couch variety. In the longer term, it could even be more effective. According to the researchers, this is the first randomized controlled trial for online depression...