As seen In Lifehacker By Elizabeth Yuko – Collaboration with Scott Guerin PhD

Living with mental illness looks different for everyone, but for many people, there are periods of time when your anxiety and/or depression symptoms are worse than others. One minute I’ll be typing away feeling neutral, and then the feelings start trickling in. (I picture it being like that older couple in bed together in Titanic who are stuck there, just watching the room fill with water, knowing they’re going to die…which probably doesn’t help with the depression.)

Even coming from a place of privilege when it comes to mental health, where I get the therapy and medication I need, there are still times when everything feels too overwhelming and I wish I could text my therapist right then and there (but I don’t). Sometimes, though, I use free online text/chat therapy services, and whether or not it was a licensed human therapist on the other end or some type of AI chatbox it has helped.

But what about having regular therapy appointments via text or chat? Is that effective, or even a good idea? Could it be an option for the many people who are dealing with mental health issues for the first time during the pandemic and are new to navigating all of this? We spoke with several mental health experts to find out.

Read full article here.