What is video therapy or counseling?
Video therapy is used in all types of therapy to enhance the effectiveness of sessions. It includes video taping specific sessions with your therapist to provide you with in the moment feedback.
The aim of this is to try and help you to understand any feelings that you may be trying to avoid or are not aware of.
What is video counseling therapy?
Video counseling is a type of psychotherapy and is commonly used to enhance the progress and effectiveness of therapy sessions. This type of therapy includes recording some of your sessions with your therapist to provide present moment feedback. This is useful as it can help you to understand any feelings that you may be trying to avoid or otherwise find difficult to access. Video counseling therapy can be combined with online therapy as sessions can easily be recorded, and Psychologyhelp can offer you online video sessions through either Skype therapy or online video.
How does it work?
- You start with a target issue: To begin with, your therapist may suggest a particular issue to focus on based on their understanding of you. They may then suggest a session to talk about that issue which would be videotaped with your consent. For recorded sessions, it is often common to focus on issues that are currently sources of conflict in your life. You can also focus on feelings that are mostly outside of your awareness.
- Recording the session: When you start the recorded session with your therapist, they will usually establish your comfort level by asking you to rate it on a scale. When your comfort level is deemed satisfactory, your therapist will start to record the session. Since you are usually discussing an issue that is of high significance in your life, most people forget that the session is being recorded after a while. This allows you to give 100% focus on your session.
- Viewing the recording: After recording either part or all of your session, you will then watch the recording together with your therapist. This can either be straight through or by pausing at any significant moments that you chose. It has been shown that people are usually deeply moved by watching themselves talking during the session. This is because they view themselves talking from a heartfelt place. This often leads you to a new level of understanding and acceptance of yourself.
How is it different?
When video therapy is used in traditional office-based therapy, sessions are usually recorded using a video camera. This is usually mounted on a tripod in the corner of the room. With online therapy, and with therapy through Psychologyhelp, it is easier to do this as an online session can often be recorded by a click of a button. This means that it is more likely that you will forget that you are being recorded, allowing you to give 100% focus to your session.
Video therapy is used within the larger psychotherapy process. It can be a powerful part of therapy and provide you with great insight. This is because instead of talking, this type of therapy focuses on literal and immediate images. These images can often hold a lot more information then words and convey them at a much faster pace. This means that they can be much more powerful than words.
Is video therapy right for you?
The main goal of all types of therapy is to enable you to enhance your understanding of yourself and your relationships. What video counseling does it allow you to meet yourself face-to-face in the present moment. It also provides you with the opportunity to reflect on yourself on the screen. This could be what you feel, see, and hear about yourself and what you come to realise about yourself on the screen.
Video therapy allows you to realise that some of your views about yourself may not be accurate. This can even be with views that you’ve held for a long time. This allows you to expand your sense of hope that things can change. It can also allow you to grow to feel better about yourself and like yourself as a person.
Some people have felt that video counseling therapy has given them a new sense of kindness towards themselves. Often by giving them greater understanding of their feelings and what they are going through. Additionally, many people have reported that video counseling has given them a greater sense of strength and accomplishment.
Psychologyhelp can offer you video therapy during online therapy sessions. This can be through either Skype or online video, whichever suits you best.
