Email therapy offers more ease of comfort and safety for those individuals who have difficulty opening up and talking about themselves in front of another person. Some individuals are more honest, more uninhibited, and more expressive in writing than face-to-face or on the telephone. As such, email therapy offers a level of personal privacy that extends beyond what telephone therapy and face-to-face treatment can offer.

With email therapy, you can set your own pace. You can take time to compose, reflect on your responses and those of your therapist, and respond when you are ready. Messages are usually answered within 24 hours of receiving an email. It is an excellent way to review session topics, insights and assignments. It is a first-rate source of note and record keeping for both the client and the therapist.

Email therapy has no time or location boundaries!  Sessions can be done at any time of day or night in the complete privacy and comfort of your home or office. Turn around response time is also excellent and allows for more measured and thoughtful responses. Busy schedules? Traffic? Car in the repair shop? Illness? No problem -- online therapy adapts to your schedule needs by offering complete flexibility of location and time.

To ensure privacy, adequate safeguards can be utilized for confidentiality including the employment of tools and secure chat rooms, digital signatures, encrypted e-mails, secret passwords and other advanced technical safeguards.

Online guidelines are set by professional organizations. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences sets stringent guidelines for licensed professionals and provides information to consumers at http://www.bbs.ca.gov/psyonlin.htm.

Online therapy provides access for the homebound, geographically isolated or stigmatized client who will not or cannot access local treatment. Hearing disabled people, celebrities, business travelers, shy and introverted people, concern about stigma and the socially phobic are but some of the individuals who benefit from this type of therapy. Self-help materials are also highly available with online services.