Online therapy – any experience?

I’ve been looking into Betterhelp mainly to keep my CBT topped up for anxiety, and wondered if anyone has experience of this or other platforms?  Any pitfalls / good points?    At face value I’m thinking it’s a slightly cheaper & more convenient version of a once a month IRL appointment.

Thanks

No experience, but they have a slightly dodgy reputation. Other online services are available.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/03/ftc-says-online-counseling-service-betterhelp-pushed-people-handing-over-health-information-broke

I used online during covid, worked Ok but find face to face much better. Also it was weekly as monthly is too far apart to be effective.

The NHS are apparently rolling out online services now. Depends on your local trust. I’ve been meaning to look into it, I think it might suit me. Would need GP referral.

Good friend of mine used Betterhelp. It was pretty transformative.

My brother in law is quite a senior counselling psychologist, and said a lot of the negative press about them was as a result of quite an aggressive recruitment strategy and the subsequent employment conditions. It wasn’t a reflection on the quality of the therapy. (Whether or not this sort of therapy is best for a person is a different subject)

Online therapies are fine. The biggest issue is that you “connect” with the counsellor rather than who they work for

I did an NHS online course through my gp. Thought it was pretty good for what I wanted. You get out what you put in, so I think you need to be disciplined to make the most of it.

Some of it I just didn’t understand the exercises, but on the whole it was very worthwhile and I learned a lot.

The therapist input was very low key, more that it encouraged you to keep going with it. They did help with specific issues though