We talked with Laura Palomares, director of Advance Psychologists and an expert in this type of therapy.
For these cases, it is very helpful to have psychological assistance. A psychologist can help us strengthen affective and communicative ties, smoothing out rough edges and giving us guidelines to face the challenges of everyday life.
- Recommended article: “Emotional lability: definition, causes and frequent symptoms”
Interview with Laura Palomares, expert in online couples therapy
However, on some occasions the couple may decide that it is preferable to receive this psychological assistance remotely. The reasons may be several:
- Impossibility to travel to the psychologist’s office.
- Preference for a specific psychologist who is not in our city.
- Convenience and save time.
These advantages make online psychological therapy a very valid option and one that more and more people are requesting. Today we have talked with the psychologist Laura Palomares, director of the Madrid center Avance Psiclogos , to learn more about the characteristics of this type of therapy.
Jonathan García-Allen: What are the goals of online couples therapy?
Laura Palomares: The couple’s relationship must be understood as a relationship to cultivate and improve every day. You can learn to be a couple and a crisis can be the opportunity to reinforce it.
Online couples therapy allows access to therapy with the same guarantees as face-to-face therapy, adapting to the geographical, time and privacy needs of both members of the couple.
For example, what are the most frequent problems and needs of married couples or couples who use online couples therapy?
The lack of communication or empathy with the other, the routine, sexual difficulties such as low desire, conflicts with the in-laws or infidelity, are usually the most common problems in couples therapy.
When there seems to be no common language, agreements are not reached, there is often discussion and we still want to try. When we suffer and our abilities are not enough, affecting those around us, it is time to go to therapy.
There are people who continue to relate the role of the psychologist exclusively to the treatment of mental disorders. How can psychologists contribute to getting out of couple crises, taking into account that these do not depend on whether there are disorders or not?
The figure of the psychologist is less and less associated with that of the professional who attends to “madness”, that idea has been falling behind for a long time and more and more people come to therapy for a specific problem, to overcome vital crises, deepen their personal development and self-knowledge, or develop skills and tools to improve their quality of life.
During couples therapy, the work of the psychologist focuses on identifying the causes that throughout the biography of the couple are deteriorating the relationship, to address their particular problems by providing specific tools for communication, negotiation skills, conflict resolution , disassemble harmful and extrapolated roles, power struggles, etc. with the aim of recovering the eroticism and affectivity of the relationship, complicity and empathy.
All through couple dynamics and in order to promote self-knowledge and the management of emotions, in addition to re-educating on being a couple.
Added to this are the advantages of new technologies, which are also leading to an evolution of psychotherapy, by making it more accessible.
How do we decide if it is better for us to carry out face-to-face or online couples therapy?
When you have time, geographical or travel difficulties, when the need for intimacy and anonymity predominates, it may be time to choose online couples therapy.
Accessing our psychology center in the heart of Madrid, with specialized psychologists, from the privacy of your home is a reality today thanks to new technologies.
Being able to carry out therapy if you live in another town, city or country with the professional you need and who best suits your needs, is one of the greatest advantages of online therapy.
Some people may be suspicious of discussing private matters over the Internet. What measures are used to maintain confidentiality?
The confidentiality of our patients and respect for it, is indeed something fundamental.
We work with specialized patient management programs in the world of health, which is one of the most restrictive and demanding sectors in this regard. However, we must be aware that we are in the year 2019 and that more and more our patients are accustomed to accessing their bank from the telephone to make a transfer or submit their tax return electronically, all of this in a safe way.
Moreover, in therapy, the fact that the communication channel is online, rather than an obstacle to patient confidentiality, is an advantage, since it allows them to access therapy from home, without anyone seeing them enter or leave. of a cabinet or physical center. This is especially appreciated by patients who live in smaller populations in which “what will they say” is a habitual resistance to asking a professional for help.
What is the profile of the professionals who organize and conduct online couples therapy sessions?
Our psychologists in online couples therapy are expert health professionals in couples and sexology therapy, with an eclectic training in psychology, their orientation as psychotherapists ranges from scientific psychology, such as cognitive behavioral orientation to humanistic psychology.
At Advance Psychologists we want our professionals to be complete, with solid foundations and excellent training accompanied by experience.
For those who have never tried this format of therapy, what do you have to do to attend the first session as a client?
Aware that online therapy is still a novelty for many people, we have put all our efforts into creating a very intuitive platform on our website.
The interested person only has to access our website and request a first appointment online or call us by phone. From here we explain directly how to enter your first session.
We are a psychology center that has been operating for more than 20 years and for us the human treatment with the person is fundamental. For this reason, on our website we always like to have different ways of contacting us in sight, so that there is always someone to accompany you in the process and answer any questions or particularities you may need.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.
