Sixty-four undergraduate students who did not previously know each other were placed in 32 pairs and randomly assigned to a conversation with a partner in either a face-to-face setting or an Internet chat program. Emotional understanding, self-disclosure, closeness, and depth of processing were measured. The findings indicate that the face-to-face group felt more satisfied with the experience and experienced a higher degree of closeness and self-disclosure with their partner. There were no significant differences between groups in regard to the level of emotional understanding of their partner, although the face-to-face group reported higher levels of positive and negative affect. No significant differences were found in depth of processing during the follow-up phone call. The implications for online counseling are discussed.Online counseling over the Internet as a viable means of therapy is beginning to be acknowledged by psychological organizations and professional therapists. A recent panel of 67 psychotherapy experts predicted that Internet therapy services would be the second fastest increasing service area in the next 10 years (Norcross, Hedges, & Prochaska, 2002). Researchers can no longer discuss online counseling as an intervention method that will take shape in the future-the future is now.The time has come for research to be compiled on the new phenomena of Internet counseling, and numerous calls for research have been made regarding the practice of Internet-based counseling methods (
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