Thanks to the pandemic, today there is a boom in online sessions for psychological support. Video calls with the psychologist, technological platforms and more affordable rates: the world of online services for mental well-being has known, during the pandemic, a boom that shows no signs of slowing down: more and more patients are choosing the digital path for their therapy path. A growth, however, which can also have controversial implications. Indeed, with the expansion of the market and the increase in the supply of subjects providing therapy services, there is the risk that the quality of service and transparency in communication are not always prioritized as they should be, undermining the protection of patients and professionals.
For this reason, some companies in the sector have spontaneously decided to promote the first version of the “Manifesto for Online Psychological Support”, a set of guidelines developed by a pool of professionals, signed by the main platforms operating in the sector – including Serenis.it, TherapyChat, Mindwork, e Minders Community – and discussed with the ethics committee of National Council of the Order of Psychologists, which have the function of establishing the principles governing the provision of online therapy services, for the purpose of protect first of all the beneficiaries – i.e. i patients – and then the industry operators themselvesfrom the individual professional to organizations that operate thanks to the web.
“As operators in the sector, we believe that digital represents a new and substantial opportunity to make psychological support accessible in a complementary way to the traditional method, but only if used with conscience and awareness: otherwise, it can be harmful”, they comment Daniele Francescon of Serenis.it, Alessandro De Sario of TherapyChat, Biancamaria Cavallini of Mindwork, Riccardo Manini of Minders Community, promoters of the initiative. «Online is a terrain on which it is easy to slip, and for this reason we have decided to equip ourselves with a Manifesto: in a sector like ours, we feel the responsibility of being able to directly influence people’s lives and health, and we want to give a signal that you draw a starting point. The more realities that join, the more we believe that the sector can continue to grow sustainably and the greater the positive impact we will be able to have”.
“Research tells us that many people enjoy online datingbut also that theeffectiveness for different situations is comparable to that achieved through face-to-face meetings», he observes David Lazzari, national president of the Order of Psychologists. Often, he adds, “mixed forms of intervention are widespreadwhich make it possible to optimize the advantages of both options in various ways».