Earlier today I sent out a request for a psychotherapist in the White Plains/Scarsdale zip codes for a spouse of a woman with whom I worked face-to-face in my office in Boca Raton, Florida. The first response delivered almost immediately, came from Samantha who offered up video therapy; she is licensed in New York State and that is the only form of therapy that she does. Next to come in was an email from a psychologist, Claire, in the Midwest; she offered phone time and HIPAA compliant video sessions—she labeled herself a coach. The last two arrivals were from psychologists within a 30 miles radius; they do face-to-face in-office therapy.

Sans the current decade which included the pandemic, the only therapy that I have ever known has been the in-person, drive to get there, on an easy chair or couch (sometimes analyst couch), therapy. And sometimes with their dog or cat. That is because my personal experience with therapy, at least the bulk of it, preceded the digital age.

Coinciding with the release of Lori Gottlieb’s book a few years back, “Maybe You Should Talk to Somebody”, a book listed on the New York Times Bestseller list almost immediately, the frequency of humans seeking therapy is at an all-time high. No wonder it hit the charts so fast. While she espouses the process through five cases of traditional in-office treatment, with herself as one of the brave and noble patients, at no point does she offer up alternative choices, at least that we know of, with the exception of the last session with a TV producer stuck on the set. With that in mind, I felt it imperative to explore at least some of the options out there.

Today there is a myriad of options for growth and transformation. With the advent of technology and the ease of travel, we now get to choose whether or not we want to take our ailing’s into the weekly therapy room in-person or online or on a phone or on-demand via text or in a concentrated in-office accelerated format.  Just as there are 25 choices of salsa on the supermarket shelves, there is a potpourri, albeit not quite as varied or salient as the salsa, of therapies.

This short series of blog posts will address the difference between weekly therapy (in person or via telehealth) and a more intensive preferably in-person format.

There will be no comparison to any self-help measures, books, blogs or articles, or transformation-type seminars (i.e. Tony Robbins, Joe Dispenza). There exist practitioners who offer these various modalities as well as clients who lack the education about their comparative efficacy.

As a clinical psychologist raised in the methods of traditional psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories and therapy, as well as a structured education of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral models, advanced programs in hypnosis, EMDR, couples’ therapy, and sex and sex addiction training, as well as and having adapted and included Eastern traditions, I offer all three, with their pros and cons, and some to a limited few.

Check out the options . . which one is for you? And which one is best for your chief complaint?

Check out the next blog post on the subject here.

And check out Dr. Winters intensives here.