Is There a Future for Therapists?

Internet interventions: Past, present and future

“…Finally, there have been few published arguments against internet interventions ( King and Bickman, 2017 ), but given the large evidence-base it is not surprising if arguments will be raised if clinicians feel threatened. Our approach has always been to present internet interventions as a complement and sometimes as an alternative, but not a replacement of regular therapy services.…”

Computer‐assisted psychological assessment and psychotherapy for collegians

“…For example, in Benton, Heesacker, Snowden, and Lee () TAO Connect, clients saw the therapist only 15 min a week, as opposed to 50–60 min per week required for traditional therapy. In fact, some professionals are pushing back against the computerization of psychotherapy out of fear that they might be put out of their jobs (King & Bickman, ; Waller & Gilbody, ). Of the college counseling centers whose administrators believe they were understaffed in the 2015–2016 school year (over 50%), only about 10% surveyed by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors offered some form of telepsychology or computerized psychology (Reetz et al, ).…”

“…In the years since the 2009 review, the effectiveness of computer‐assisted psychotherapy has been well documented. More recently and more openly reflecting guild (job protection) issues (not just client‐welfare concerns), King and Bickman (, p. 596) argued “While it may seem remote at the moment, … it is possible to contemplate a time in the future when therapists have gone the way of bank tellers.” Certainly the fear of being replaced by a machine, whether one is a factory worker fearing replacement by a robot or a practicing psychologist fearing replacement by computer software on an online system, could motivate and sustain significant opposition to change by practicing psychotherapists.…”

“…With Andersson's caveat that predicting future directions is a difficult exercise, the first of his future directions is that there will or should be more computer interventions to support clinicians in their face‐to‐face work with their clients, in contrast to interventions directly to the client. This has the distinct advantage of minimizing clinician's fear that they will be replaced by computers, a concern articulated by King and Bickman (). Andersson's second prediction is that clients will become more directly involved in intervention development, as active collaborators in the research as well as in providing feedback when interventions are being developed or improved.…”

From Detection to Intervention Psychological Aspects of Online Hearing Rehabilitation

“…For example, internet-delivered treatments are made to be alternatives or adjuncts to ordinary treatment and are as a rule not to been seen as replacements for other forms of healthcare (Andersson & Titov, 2014). Some authors have noted that most of the studies are conducted as scientific projects and that there needs to be more evidence of internet-delivered psychological treatments on real world patients (King & Bickman, 2017), although there are several publications on this kind of patients (Andersson & Hedman, 2013). Further, although there are several studies of predictors, moderators and mediators in internet-delivered treatments it is still not clear who benefits from treatment (Andersson & Titov, 2014).…”