Phone Counseling is a practice that has greatly evolved over time.
The origin of the practice is probably somewhere in between when the first person gave advice or support to another over the phone, and when the first psychiatrist or psychologist spoke to a patient by phone.
Communication is the key to nearly all forms of psychotherapy, and the advent of the telephone has greatly increased therapists "range" to provide help.
Today the telephone is used therapeutically in a few different ways.
For psychotherapists who mainly do traditional face-to-face counseling, the phone is often used as an adjunct to that when the client is out of town.
Frequently, people who regularly attend counseling sessions may not be able to make their counseling session for other reasons like transportation or time constraints, even due to illness at times.
Those circumstances are inevitably encountered when one is in long term therapy, and having the counseling session over the phone is a good way to avoid a gap in treatment.
Some therapists allow their patient to call them during times of crisis, outside of their normal appointment times.
While the benefit for such phone counseling should be considered on a case by case basis, some therapists encourage it, while others discourage it.
Still, many would probably say that it depends on the individual case.
In many circumstances, people in need of professional counseling do not have access to a suitable therapist in their area.
Some examples would be people who live in rural areas, are limited by transportation or disability, or an individual in need of a counselor who specializes in a certain kind of problem they are dealing with.
For such circumstances, phone counseling can be a very appropriate solution.
The internet can also be used in conjunction with phone counseling in such circumstances.
Modern-day technology offers the therapist the additional benefit of communicating while using webcams to observe a patient's facial expression or "affect.
" Using "voice-over-ip" is common as well.
An alternative to the traditional phone, voice-over-ip services allow people to connect and talk over long distances without the additional fees that traditional phone companies charge.
More recent technology has evolved that allows networks of therapists to conduct phone therapy on a pay-per-minute basis.
The unique quality of this service is that therapists in the network can signal through their computer when they are "online" or available for phone counseling.
The network websites then show a list of their available counselors.
Some allow internet "chat" as well as phone counseling, while others are exclusive to phone counseling.
These networks provide a unique service in that they make immediate, on-demand phone counseling available to individuals in urgent need of help.
This bypasses the usual wait of contacting a therapist who's not available and scheduling an appointment sometimes a week in advance.
Many different types of phone counselors are available for this new service.
Much could be written to explain the different types of degrees, but for this sake of this article, one should be aware that phone counselors can be social workers, psychologists, licensed counselors, marriage and family therapists, or even a psychiatrist.
The origin of the practice is probably somewhere in between when the first person gave advice or support to another over the phone, and when the first psychiatrist or psychologist spoke to a patient by phone.
Communication is the key to nearly all forms of psychotherapy, and the advent of the telephone has greatly increased therapists "range" to provide help.
Today the telephone is used therapeutically in a few different ways.
For psychotherapists who mainly do traditional face-to-face counseling, the phone is often used as an adjunct to that when the client is out of town.
Frequently, people who regularly attend counseling sessions may not be able to make their counseling session for other reasons like transportation or time constraints, even due to illness at times.
Those circumstances are inevitably encountered when one is in long term therapy, and having the counseling session over the phone is a good way to avoid a gap in treatment.
Some therapists allow their patient to call them during times of crisis, outside of their normal appointment times.
While the benefit for such phone counseling should be considered on a case by case basis, some therapists encourage it, while others discourage it.
Still, many would probably say that it depends on the individual case.
In many circumstances, people in need of professional counseling do not have access to a suitable therapist in their area.
Some examples would be people who live in rural areas, are limited by transportation or disability, or an individual in need of a counselor who specializes in a certain kind of problem they are dealing with.
For such circumstances, phone counseling can be a very appropriate solution.
The internet can also be used in conjunction with phone counseling in such circumstances.
Modern-day technology offers the therapist the additional benefit of communicating while using webcams to observe a patient's facial expression or "affect.
" Using "voice-over-ip" is common as well.
An alternative to the traditional phone, voice-over-ip services allow people to connect and talk over long distances without the additional fees that traditional phone companies charge.
More recent technology has evolved that allows networks of therapists to conduct phone therapy on a pay-per-minute basis.
The unique quality of this service is that therapists in the network can signal through their computer when they are "online" or available for phone counseling.
The network websites then show a list of their available counselors.
Some allow internet "chat" as well as phone counseling, while others are exclusive to phone counseling.
These networks provide a unique service in that they make immediate, on-demand phone counseling available to individuals in urgent need of help.
This bypasses the usual wait of contacting a therapist who's not available and scheduling an appointment sometimes a week in advance.
Many different types of phone counselors are available for this new service.
Much could be written to explain the different types of degrees, but for this sake of this article, one should be aware that phone counselors can be social workers, psychologists, licensed counselors, marriage and family therapists, or even a psychiatrist.
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