Considerations about Teletherapy

Abstract

The present work describes how the supply and demand of distance psychotherapy through virtual platforms is a phenomenon that advances with sustained growth. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent measures of social isolation adopted by many countries as a preventive measure, implied the forced interruption of the face-toface clinic services, being the modality known as teletherapy the only posible alternative. It is considered that this context only accelerates the massification of a phenomenon that already has its own dynamics. One of the question that arises is about the consequences these changes imply for the practice, which is increasingly affected by the fluctuations of the current postmodern era. Is it feasible for the clinical device to work under these conditions? While cognitive-behavioral therapies seem to better accommodate to these changes, traditional psychoanalytic therapies may become impractical. This study goes into detail about the minimum technical and legal limits for a suitable teletherapy application. Finally, another issue is whether the fact of using virtual communication tools would consequently involve a potential dehumanization of psychotherapy, and how this would affect the specific practice for some models of psychotherapy.