Ethical Issues in Providing Online Psychotherapeutic Interventions

The Internet offers psychotherapists a new communication medium through which they can deliver psychotherapeutic interventions that are appropriate to the medium. Yet online psychotherapy also offers new ethical challenges for therapists interested in providing online psychotherapeutic services. The differences between interactive text-based communication and in-person verbal communication create new ethical challenges not previously encountered in face-to-face therapy. This article will examine the Internet's potential for providing online psychotherapeutic interventions and will review the ethical issues involved with providing interactive text-based psychotherapy.