It turns out that my therapist is a cat person. Before the pandemic, I’d never have known. Her office was nondescript, with few cues to her private life. But now that we conduct sessions online from our respective homes, I’ve seen her two kitties. She’s also seen my two cats, Van Gogh and Lily, and recognizes which one is jumping on my lap during our virtual appointments.
Virtual therapy — or mental telehealth, e-therapy, online therapy, among other labels — skyrocketed during COVID, and continued to grow in popularity even as pandemic worries waned. Like me, some clients who switched from in-person to online decided to keep it that way.
There’s also been significant growth in apps that offer alternatives to traditional in-person therapy, such as Talkspace, BetterHelp and Brightside.
Just as it’s impossible to paint in-person therapy with a broad brush, so too is it impractical to throw all online options into one bucket.
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