Does online therapy work as well as in person?

For most talking therapy, yes. The research of the past decade says broadly that therapy by video works about as well as therapy in the room for the common concerns people bring to it, and most people stop noticing the screen after a session or two. The exceptions are specific and worth knowing before you choose: some trauma work, some medication decisions, and anyone without a private place to talk.

Why it works

The active ingredient in therapy is the conversation: the same clinician, the same hour, the same questions, week after week. A camera carries that well. What you say, how you say it and what you avoid saying all come through a screen. By video at PATH you get the same therapist at the same rate as in the office, and you can switch between the two as it suits you.

Where it is weaker

• Reading the room. In person, a clinician picks up things a camera carries poorly: how you are holding yourself, how long a pause runs, what happens in the room when a hard question lands. For most people this does not change the work. For a first psychiatric evaluation, it sometimes does, which is why the nurse practitioner may ask to see you in person before deciding something.
• Some trauma work. Stabilization, skills and most talking therapy translate well to video. Some processing work benefits from being in the room, particularly early on, and your clinician will tell you plainly which parts of your plan should be in person.
• Some medication decisions. Most medication management follow-ups work by video. Some visits need to be in person, and your prescriber will tell you which ones.
• No private place. A session is as private as the room you take it in. If there is genuinely nowhere at home, say so; we would rather book you into the Tempe office than have you spend the hour watching the door.

What you need

A phone, tablet or computer with a camera; a phone is what most people use. An internet connection good enough for video; if it drops, your clinician calls your phone and you finish the session that way. Somewhere you can speak without being overheard, which is usually the hard one: a parked car works better than it sounds, and headphones stop your clinician’s half of the conversation being audible in the room. You get a link before the appointment, with nothing to install and no account to create. Sessions are not recorded. The telehealth page has the full list, including where people actually take their sessions.

What it costs

The same as being in the room. There is no telehealth rate, no platform fee and no surcharge: therapy is $75 to $150 a session, a psychiatric evaluation is $300 and a follow-up is $150 if you are paying yourself. We accept Aetna, Cigna, Carelon Behavioral Health and Curative, and most plans cover a video visit on the same terms as an office visit; we confirm it for your plan on the free consultation.

Arizona only, and why

Our clinicians are licensed in Arizona, and the license covers where you are sitting during the visit, not where you live. So video care from PATH is open to anyone physically in Arizona at the time of the appointment, whether that is Tempe or Tucson or Flagstaff, and not to someone out of state that day. If you are travelling, we reschedule. Video care across Arizona covers what that means for people far from the office.

Psychiatric evaluations by video

A psychiatric evaluation works either way. By video you get the same 60-minute appointment with the same board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner, and for most people that is enough. If yours needs to see you in person before deciding something, she will say so and the office visit gets booked. Follow-ups after it can be by video. Online psychiatric care describes the video version from start to finish.

How to choose

You do not have to choose once. Some people prefer a first visit in person, to see the office and sit across from their clinician once, and video from then on. Others start by video because getting out of the house is the obstacle, and come in later. Either order works, and if video is not working for you, say so: your clinician would rather hear it in the second week than the tenth, and the office is there for anyone who can reach it.