Teletherapy for Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatients: The Soaring Flight of so far Idle Technologies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Huscsava, Mercedes; Plener, Paul L.; Kothgassner, Oswald D.

doi:10.24989/dp.v1i2.1867

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…They experienced sessions to be more superficial and described a tendency to talk and avoid silences in patients and in themselves. These results are consistent with those of Huscsava et al (2020), who suggested that therapeutic processes become more superficial in remote psychotherapy. However, in the psychoanalytically oriented debate, a number of authors pointed out that these dynamics may be understood as defenses on the parts of both patient and therapist and need to be analyzed and addressed as such in therapy (Scharff, 2012;Migone, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Psychodynamic Therapist’s Subjective Experiences With Remote Psychotherapy During the COVID-19-Pandemic—A Qualitative Study With Therapists Practicing Guided Affective Imagery, Hypnosis and Autogenous Relaxation

Jesser

Muckenhuber

Lunglmayr³

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19-pandemic brought massive changes in the provision of psychotherapy. To contain the pandemic, many therapists switched from face-to-face sessions in personal contact to remote settings. This study focused on psychodynamic therapists practicing Guided Affective Imagery, Hypnosis and Autogenous Relaxation and their subjective experiences with psychotherapy via telephone and videoconferencing during the first COVID-19 related lockdown period in March 2020 in Austria. An online survey completed by 161 therapists produced both quantitative and qualitative data with the latter being subject to a qualitative content analysis. Our research suggests that telephone and videoconferencing are considered valuable treatment formats to deliver psychodynamic psychotherapy. However, therapists’ experiences with remote psychotherapy are multifaceted and ambiguous. In particular, the findings raise questions concerning the maintenance of the therapeutic alliance, the development of the analytic process, the sensitivity to unconscious communication, and the indication for certain types of patients that still need further investigation. Our research indicates that the long-standing reticence toward remote treatments offers among psychodynamic therapists is becoming more differentiated and partially dissolves as therapists gain experiences in their use. Attitudes are becoming more open. At the same time, the way is being prepared to take a closer look at the specific processes and dynamics of remote psychotherapy and to examine them critically in future studies.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Psychodynamic Therapist’s Subjective Experiences With Remote Psychotherapy During the COVID-19-Pandemic—A Qualitative Study With Therapists Practicing Guided Affective Imagery, Hypnosis and Autogenous Relaxation

Jesser

Muckenhuber

Lunglmayr³

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A more specific analysis of different aspects of the psychotherapeutic encounter revealed that transference/countertransference processes, the intensity and the therapeutic process change the most. This is supported by previous studies, revealing that remote sessions were experienced to be more superficial [27]. Specific therapeutic interventions were also rated to be more typical in in-person settings as compared to remote settings [28].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Provision of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Austria during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Jesser

Muckenhuber

Lunglmayr

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive changes in the provision of psychotherapy. To avoid or reduce the risk of infection, many therapists switched from face-to-face sessions in personal contact to remote psychotherapy, i.e., psychotherapy delivered by telephone or videoconferencing. This study examined the attitudes toward and practice of remote psychotherapy among Austrian therapists with a psychodynamic orientation at the onset of the pandemic as well as changes in the therapeutic process that were experienced by the therapists due to switching to a remote setting. A total of 161 therapists with psychodynamic orientation took part in an online survey. The results show that attitudes toward remote psychotherapy changed positively in psychodynamically orientated therapists and most are willing to switch to remote settings, if necessary. However, many therapists reported negative effects of remote psychotherapy and prefer seeing their patients in-person. The strongest changes were experienced with regard to transference/countertransference, the therapeutic process and the intensity of session. The analysis further revealed an overall decrease in the number of patients treated, indicating an undersupply of psychotherapy, at least during the first wave of COVID-19 infection in Austria. In summary, the experience during the first COVID-19 lockdown has led to an increase in remote psychotherapy and more openness toward these treatment modalities among psychodynamically oriented therapists. However, in-person therapy will remain the first choice for most therapists.

show abstract

“…Consistent with our previous study, psychotherapists rated psychotherapy via the internet more comparably to in-person psychotherapy than to psychotherapy via telephone [4]. However, previous research has revealed that remote sessions are experienced as being more superficial than inperson sessions [21] and specific therapeutic interventions have also been rated to be more typical in in-person settings as compared to remote settings by therapists [10]. Thus, aspects other than the three investigated variables likely contributed to the increased utilization of in-person psychotherapy compared to psychotherapy via the internet.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Provision of Psychotherapy One Year after the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria

Humer

Haid²,

Schimböck

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A previous study revealed that the majority of Austrian psychotherapists switched to remote settings during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study investigated whether this change in treatment format was maintained after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic. From 16 February until 2 April 2021, a total of 238 Austrian psychotherapists completed an online survey. They were asked about the number of patients currently treated in-person, via telephone and via the internet. Psychotherapists rated three different aspects of psychotherapy (ability to actively listen to patients, ability to understand what is going on in the patients and ability to support patients emotionally) for three different formats (in-person with facemasks, telephone and internet) separately. The results show that, after one year of the pandemic, the majority (78.4%) of patients were treated in-person (compared to 21.7% during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic; p < 0.001). This change in the treatment format was accompanied by a strong increase in the total number of patients treated by 77.2% on average (p < 0.001). Psychotherapists reported no differences between in-person psychotherapy with facemasks and psychotherapy via the internet with regard to the three investigated aspects of psychotherapy, while the surveyed aspects were rated less favorably for psychotherapy conducted via telephonic communication (p < 0.05). Further studies are needed to investigate the reasons why most psychotherapists switched back to the in-person format with the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

show abstract

Teletherapy for Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatients: The Soaring Flight of so far Idle Technologies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 11 publications

References 8 publications

Psychodynamic Therapist’s Subjective Experiences With Remote Psychotherapy During the COVID-19-Pandemic—A Qualitative Study With Therapists Practicing Guided Affective Imagery, Hypnosis and Autogenous Relaxation

Psychodynamic Therapist’s Subjective Experiences With Remote Psychotherapy During the COVID-19-Pandemic—A Qualitative Study With Therapists Practicing Guided Affective Imagery, Hypnosis and Autogenous Relaxation

Provision of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Austria during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Provision of Psychotherapy One Year after the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About