Has anyone ever tried online counseling for postpartum depression?

Although online counseling or 'E Therapy' as it is also known, has it's limitations (e.g., the absence of non-verbal communication), online counseling may offer many potential benefits such as:

Convenience: Offers clients the ability to receive online guidance, support, and consultation from an experienced, licensed clinician any time of the day or night. This may be very important for certain groups of people such as busy executives, traveling professionals, physicians, attorneys, homemakers, or individuals who work from home who are struggling to balance a hectic work schedule/family life and allow them the convenience and privacy that online counseling offers. This may also provide the benefit of allowing clients to frequently access service whenever needed (as opposed to waiting several weeks between therapy appointments).

Helps Overcome Geographical Limitations & Transportation Difficulties: Using online services can help clients overcome distance, disability, or transportation issues. The ease of email and online counseling allows clients to access services who may otherwise have significant difficulty keeping regularly scheduled appointments. 

People with physical disabilities or diagnoses such as agoraphobia, social phobia, and other anxiety-related disorders may limit and restrict a person’s ability to travel even short distances. This is not an issue with online counseling since the person does not have to leave their home. The use of a computer and the Internet enables people with a wide variety of disabilities or disorders to be able to benefit from online counseling.

Cost: Online counseling offers affordability to clients (average range is between $20 - $75 for 30 minutes of time depending on medium used: email, chat, video conferencing / web cam, or telephone) compared to face-to-face office-based counseling services (which can range between $50 - $125 or higher per office visit). In addition, Palmetto Counseling provides online counseling as a fee for service and therefore will not bill private insurance, 3^rd party pay, or other managed care entities so potential clients can access online services at their own discretion and will not be subject to authorization/approval for a limited number of sessions.

Time: While e-mail / online counseling does not offer all of the benefits of traditional face-to-face psychotherapy, it can be helpful by providing clients tools to work through a variety of problems or issues. Clients can thoughtfully compose a very detailed email at their own leisure. This allows clients the ability to reflect on a detailed record/journal of their issues/ problems and review suggestions and techniques offered by the clinician. Since secure email sessions do not require an appointment, online counseling and coaching allows clients to receive online guidance, support, and consultation from an experienced, licensed clinician any time of the day or night.

Helps Overcome Stigma: People who may not otherwise access help from a clinician due to stigma, may feel less inhibited or anxious using online services than with face-to-face counseling. According to the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health (1999), only two-thirds of Americans who are in need of help access mental health services because "the complex and fragmented mental health service delivery system can create barriers to a full range of appropriate services. Financial barriers and stigma also serve as deterrents to the receipt of appropriate and necessary care. These factors result in a gap between what research has shown to be optimally effective treatments and what many people receive in actual practice settings."

Other factors closely related to stigma that may influence or prevent people from accessing mental health services:

Shame/Guilt: Some people do not seek help because they feel ashamed or guilty. Many have misperceptions about accessing mental health services and mistakenly believe that people “must be crazy” if they need to see a counselor. Recent articles reveal that recipients who have accessed online services feel it is easier to "open up" online than in face-to-face therapy. People who have accessed online counseling also report that they tend to open up more quickly, subsequently expediting the helping process.

Community Status: people may wish to maintain a low profile due to their status in the community. Some seek online counseling because they believe their status in the community could be adversely affected or compromised if others were aware they were in counseling. People in sensitive positions (mayor, police chief, city councilperson, teacher, clergy, etc.) may have need to access counseling services, but may be hesitant to do so for fear of being seen at the local mental health center, counselor’s office, etc. While therapists and agencies are ethically bound to respect and protect client confidentiality, there is nothing preventing a friend, relative, neighbor, or other member of the community from divulging to others that they saw that person at a therapist’s office or local mental health center.

Availability & Acceptance: Exchanging ideas and information via the Internet (e.g., Web MD, Online Courses being offered by Major Universities, Pod casts, Online Banking, Shopping Online, etc.) is far more accepted today then when the Internet was first introduced. People routinely utilize the Internet as part of their daily routine and workday.

Click on the link to purchase a session  https://www.palmettocounselingconsulting.com/Online_Services.php