Can COVID-19 Make Depression And Anxiety Worse?
Are you having a hard time coping with the mental strain of all the changes?
Maybe you worry about your health and it makes you feel more depressed or anxious. Perhaps the reduced social contact feels lonely. Or maybe now you don’t want to go out because of everything.
If You Relate To This, You Might Like Online Therapy
Many people need help but don’t know what to do. COVID-19 is still changing our society, and people had it rough before.
Someone with anxiety or depression may need to exert a lot of energy to make it to the end of the day. Maybe you can barely get out of bed. Or you might feel isolated from the real world.
The good news is you can still get help from a compassionate therapist like me by using online counseling that’s secure and easy.
As your therapist, I’ll show you how to get started and how simple it’ll be to work together.
Online Therapy Offers Smooth, Convenient Help
How, you ask?
The answer is based on the fact that… just like any other two people talking… when you and I do online therapy, the experience is a one-to-one conversation.
That’s it. We could be talking on the phone, in-person, or online, and the treatment approaches I offer work just as well. That’s exactly why I’ve been able to work with many clients online.
Here’s What To Expect With Online Therapy
Online therapy is simple to use, safe, and totally secure (what’s called HIPAA compliant). It’s similar to in-person therapy, but we meet face-to-face via the internet. All you need is your own computer or device with online access.
At the beginning of each session, I’ll work with you on making sure your location is confidential. To help secure our communication even more, I use HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant encryption methods, firewalls, and password-protected computers and devices.
Then as we work together electronically, we’ll develop a treatment plan for you just like we would’ve done in-person.
Online therapy is a special kind of treatment for depression or anxiety that helps you stay safe and calm inside your home… while we work on getting you safe and calm inside your mind.
And now I want to tell you how online therapy can be just as effective for you as in-person therapy.
What Are The Types Of Anxiety Or Depression Therapy We’ll Do Online?
Here’s how we’ll work together. First, I’ll learn your specific needs and personal goals. Then, I’ll pull from a variety of scientifically proven approaches to provide you with treatment that’s personalized to you.
This includes existential therapy and cognitive therapy. Existential therapy helps to soothe emotions like sadness or loneliness from social isolation. Cognitive therapy helps negative thinking that can overwhelm, frustrate, and confuse.
Is Online Therapy Private?
Your confidentiality is top priority for me. At the beginning of each online session, I’ll run through a set of questions to make sure you’re in a safe, secure and confidential place.
In addition to HIPAA protections, I’ll apply the same measures of privacy that I would for an in-person session. I’ll always verify your identity and we’ll use a password or phrase to begin each session that only you and I would know.
Can Therapy Be In-Person As Well As Online?
If you want to start online and then move to in-person sessions, we can do that. If you start off in-person and things change later and you need to move to online sessions, we can do that as well.
What’s important to me is we get you the care you need. So if you want to do online counseling and schedule in-person sessions to “check-in” with each other, we can also do that.
Is Online Therapy As Effective As In-Person Therapy?
Yes, and I adapt my counseling style to accommodate the realities of online therapy. However, the screen does take away from my ability to read all your physical cues, body language, and facial expressions.
That’s why I’d like some of our sessions to be in-person. I’ll get a better sense of your physical presence and a better understanding of how you interact with the world around you.
Nevertheless, whether therapy with me takes place online, in-person, or on the phone, the essential thing is our conversation and the connection of our working relationship… which will exist without us having to be in the same place.
I find therapy to be meaningful and helpful whichever way it happens—because the types of therapy for depression and anxiety I practice don’t require us to be face-to-face in-person like other forms of therapy might.
What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Online Therapy?
Let’s say sometimes you have challenges come up around transportation, child care, or scheduling. With online therapy, you can get around those potential blocks without having to sacrifice your mental health treatment by interrupting your counseling sessions.
Also, you may find you’re a bit more in control of your environment, time, or routine by having soothing things around you or without ever having to get into your car.
Online Therapy Can Offer Comfort Right Away
Online therapy can help your depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms today. Please call or email me for your free 15-minute consultation so I can hear your needs and answer your questions.
Let’s work together on this. I offer individual therapy in Denver, CO, and I offer online counseling and phone calls as well. I’m here to help and I look forward to speaking with you soon! Please reach out when you can.
If you’re thinking about suicide and are in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number. For Denver, Colorado, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
