Distance Writing: Helping without Seeing Participants

Abstract

An interactive SH approach that is becoming more and more frequent and that has been always important is distance writing (DW). Online therapy has already emerged in the area of SH therapy as the fastest growing method, as discussed in Chapter 5 of this volume (L’Abate, 1986, 1990, 1992e, 2001a, 2002). Participants can receive therapy sessions with e-text and/or voice with video and can also complete online questionnaires, handouts, workout sheets, or practice exercises at their own pace (Greg, 2007). DW, as a progressive step in the evolution of SH, owes its phenomenal growth to the Internet and is now an everyday occurrence (Lange et al., 1993; Ritterband et al., 2003a; Ritterband et al., 2003b; Watkins & Clum, 2008).