Individual Psychotherapy Via Videoconference: a systematic review

Abstract

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological service via videoconferencing have expanded. Thus, due to the need to understand the clinical aspects involved in this type of care, this study aimed to raise and analyze articles published on psychotherapeutic care via videoconference, through a systematic review, in the PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases. The search was conducted in August 2021, using the descriptors “telepsychology”, “telepsychological service”, “online counseling”, “online psychotherapy” and “videoconferencing psychotherapy”. 13 articles were selected according to the research inclusion and exclusion criteria. Although researches demonstrate conflicting results regarding the quality of the established therapeutic relationship, it was found that therapists and patients had favorable perceptions of the use of this type of care, and that videoconference psychotherapy may be viable for the treatment of a wide range of problems such as anxiety, trichotillomania, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorder, panic disorder and agoraphobia. Therefore, from the results obtained, it was found that videoconference psychotherapy is revealing itself as an alternative applied to different contexts not reached by traditional psychotherapies models, providing increased access to the general population, with ethics and quality.