Although there are several differences between online counseling and in office visits, there can be some definite advantages to doing some therapeutic work online. For example, online work can be particularly useful:

For those who don’t yet want to expose their face to be seen by anyone, and prefer to stay safely hidden in the safety of their own homes for right now
For those who live in areas without a trained trauma specialist
For those who need confidentiality from the people in their immediate community. Sometimes communities are too small, or too emotionally tangled, and exposing your personal issues may make you too vulnerable. You might want to go further out of the loop for your personal issues.
For those who are starving for comfort and support – when do people ever really have more support than they need?
For those that need a creative schedule for their healing -- one that can work around the many other schedules that keep you too busy to get to a therapist’s office during normal working hours. You can write your e-mail at anytime of day or night!
For those who find it too complicated to take time off of work to drive to appointments
For those that are house bound, for any number of reasons. If you can’t get out for help, help can come to you!
For those that travel a lot, and are not consistently in one place…computers are everywhere and can travel with you. Your therapeutic support does not have to end or repeatedly be disrupted just because you are out of town.
For those that want a second opinion or additional consultation
For those that are struggling to have their words heard before they forget them themselves. You can write your e-mail when the issue is at its peak. There with no risk of forgetting it or losing the intensity of the issue while you wait for your next appointment.
For those that need even more support than they already have for the most difficult of issues (ie: self harm, trauma resolution / memory work, chronic suicidality, DID system work, etc.)
For those who can use writing as a tool for self expression. Remember to use the facial icons and graphics available to help with emotional expression!
For those who have amnesia, and would like to remember their session time, having IM interactions or e-mail responses in print provides this information.
For those who do not want insurance companies to control and dictate and peer into your therapy and medical records, online consultation provides you with more anonymity, privacy, and personal control of your mental health treatment.

Writing is a therapeutic tool that allows you to take as much time as you need to put your words into the best presentation possible. How many of us have stumbled around, talking in circles, trying to say what it is that needs to be said, only to have the time fly past, and not having accomplished our goal? In writing, you can write, and re-write your words until you are happy with what they say.

Furthermore, the forcing of yourself to put your thoughts into cohesive, understandable sentences is a therapeutic process on its own accord. You will be pleased with how much you can put together yourself, just by writing it all down in a way to make someone else understand.

People are often braver in their writings, and can type questions or comments that they wouldn’t dare say in a face-to-face meeting. The physical distance can give you safety from embarrassment or shame or fear. Meanwhile, this distance can actually allow some therapeutic progress to occur on these most difficult of issues, comfortably in the safety and privacy of your own home. The distance gives you time to work through the feelings you do not yet want visibly exposed to other people.

You can also read and re-read the responses you receive in your clinical consultation. This makes it possible that deeper therapeutic learning can take place since the page can be read over and over again. No more trying to remember what was said… now you will know! For those of you that are dissociative, writing and reading the clinical responses can be a real help in understanding and meeting your internal system. It can be a concrete aid in overcoming some of the amnesia you experience.

For folks with DID, there are usually a ton of rules against talking, telling, writing, or even drawing. However, I have found that for some folks, their system feels safer doing therapeutic work via the computer because they were not punished for and were not programmed against telling (or typing) on the computer. When they were children, there were no rules against sending emails, no rules about instant messages, and no rules about any type of computer communication. Rules about computers were not enforced during those childhood years when they were being threatened, hurt and abused for telling anything to anybody, because most people did not have computers then. So, for those folks with “don’t tell rules”, the computer becomes a safe way to talk because it isn’t breaking the perpetrator’s rules. It’s a good safe place to start!!

As we know, getting started can be the hardest part – it is scary to test the waters and to start telling about your abuse, so with telling made as safe as possible, therapeutic progress can be made quickly.

Also, on the computer, the different parts can still be seen. Switches may become evident thru a change in font, or a change in spelling ability, or by a new paragraph, or by a completely different writing style. Don’t assume that the therapist can’t “see” a switch even though they may not be seeing you in person! The computer can be very visual, so a perceptive therapist can tell differences in presentation via the web just like in the office.