What might be some advantages and disadvantages of technological advances in psychological treatment? What will psychotherapy look like 100 years from now?

Answer:

Psychotherapy the word itself tells us, about the usage of psychological methods, depending on personal interaction, which helps to change behaviour of a person and overcome problems if any, in a smooth way. Day by day, with the development and advent of new technologies related to this, psychotherapy has become very easy and easily available for anyone who needs it. And the doctors are preferring it very much. Some advantages of using technology in psychotherapy are, a. It is a good option for those people who are living in a remote area and do not have exposure to better treatment facilities, b. those people who have some physical barriers and limitations, they don’t have to go anywhere else for treatment, they can opt it from anywhere, c. information concerning this has forthwith become more convenient with the introduction of technologies in psychotherapy, d. with the advent of new technologies, the therapy becomes more reasonable as well as expedient.

But there are also some disadvantages regarding this, some are, a. there will be always uncertainty about whether one can trust his/her therapist or not, because there is no chance of face to face interacting with the therapist, as today’s people till now, very much depend on personal interaction while going to a conclusion related to any issue, b. with the help of technologies, psychotherapy sometimes becomes online therapy through email, chat, texting, for a reason people cant interact directly with his/her therapist and sometimes there may be some sort of misunderstandings happen while explaining problems to the therapist or while giving advice to patients. And this can cause a major problem for a patient, c. when it is about technological failures, such as the computer of the patient or therapist gets interrupted or gone down, then how it can be handled? But when face to face appointments are there, at least this problem will not occur and the patient will get an uninterrupted conversation with his/her therapist.

The present 20th century is called as psychiatry’s century and modern people are taking every benefit of this. With the help of new researches and the advent of new technologies, psychotherapy is becoming more and more promising. And with this trend, it is certain that psychotherapy will undergo changes both in aspects of practice and theory. It is quite impossible to tell, exactly when and where these precise changes will occur but the motive towards democratic and more structured, shorter therapy seems inevitable and also radical changes may come.