# Does online counseling work?



## silvercobra101 (Mar 25, 2010)

I have been dealing with a crippling social anxiety, as well as health anxiety, OCD and (I suspect) general anxiety disorder for a long time now. Because of my SA, I doubt I could do face to face counseling. But I realize that I need to do something.

I have heard about online psychiatric counseling. As this is text-based, I would be able to do that OK, and am wondering if anyone knows anything about it. Does it do any good? Is it worth paying for?


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## Brightpaperwarewolf (Oct 16, 2008)

I thought it was beneficial the one I tried it but it's so damn expensive. I wish they would accept insurance.


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## softshock11 (Jan 9, 2011)

i used that before registering here...it is expensive
she was nice enough to have a conversation with me for free 20 minutes.
It wasn't anything amazing just questions about my experiences and history...a little feedback.
i would suggest that you rather do face to face therapy


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## jangle1 (Jan 11, 2011)

CBT itself isn't something that is going to treat you. You get better by exposing whilst doing threat appraisals and cognitive restructuring as well as eliminating safety behaviors. In that sense online therapy can be just as effective as in session therapy, but only if you do the exposures on your own time. Which given your level of anxiety, probably wouldn't occur and you would ultimately find the experience useless.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

It can work as a 'reminder', but the whole idea of social anxiety is to become more at ease in social situations.


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## shantiana (Mar 1, 2011)

hi silvercobra101  millenniumman75 got a point there but I believe that online psychiatric counseling can be a good start  although, from what I've been reading, group therapy is what helps overcome SA. I'm also looking for a doctor who does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Portugal and I found one that works by email or Skype (look up for "Jaime Reininho" on the internet, his site is in english too) and it is not that expensive! I'm just sharing what I've found so far, I don't know his work personally.


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