Discussion – Complexities of E-Therapy
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please watch the Virtual Clinic (Links to an external site.) video and review the Guidelines for the Practice of Telepsychology (2013). Be sure to also read Baker and Bufka (2011), “Preparing for the Telehealth World: Navigating Legal, Regulatory, Reimbursement, and Ethical Issues in an Electronic Age,” Harris and Younggren (2011), “Risk Management in the Digital World,” Luxton et al. (2014), “Best Practices for Remote Psychological Assessment Via Telehealth Technologies,” and Gros et al. (2013), “Delivery of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy via Video Telehealth” articles.
In your initial post, provide an evaluation of the efficacy of using telehealth with mild, moderate, and severe mental health disorders. As part of your evaluation, assess the integration of evidence-based practices into the telehealth trend in psychotherapy. Consider the population, specialty, and treatment preferences you identified in the Week One Creating a Specialist Website interactive assignment, and assess the appropriateness of using telephone, text-based, virtual clinics, and/or video telehealth given your client focus, specialty, and treatment preference(s). Analyze ethical and professional issues you might encounter and explain the risks and benefits of using these delivery methods with your identified treatment population.
Guided Response:
Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to at least two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful interactive discourse in this discussion.
In your responses to your peers, consider the evaluation provided by your colleague and explain whether or not he or she provided sufficient information on the appropriate uses of e-therapies with mild, moderate, and severe mental health disorders. Recommend other mental health disorders that might be best treated with this type of therapeutic modality. Suggest other evidence-based practices your peer may not have considered in his or her assessment.
Consider the population your colleague identified and explain whether or not the geographical location of that population would impact his or her ability to deliver e-therapy. Suggest any additional ethical and/or professional issues your colleague might encounter in the delivery of e-therapy with the identified population, as well as any additional risks and/or benefits e-therapies might have.