ABSTRACT
We reach the end of our journey, in which we and other authors shared our experience with various formats of online therapy and struggled how to connect technology and therapy/consultation. We tackled questions about human relationship and their meaning for therapy and consultation. These questions are based not only on our experience but also on long-term accumulated knowledge, which we tried to summarize as well in this book. However, technology, and specifically Internet applications, change in such an accelerated pace that it is difficult to stay updated and acquainted with all the innovations. While concluding the book, we are aware that very soon, even before the book is published, new technologies will show up. Just as one example, after writing the book and mentioning the obstacle of the body’s absence online and after commenting on the still position of the camera, we learned about a new technology in which the camera can move and show more of the surrounding and of the body of the participants. We also discovered a camera that represents the eyes of the observer (the therapist, for example), showing the client(s) the direction that the therapist is looking at. It seems that very soon, online presence will be enhanced through Virtual Reality technologies, so we humbly admit that we cannot foresee all the technological creative innovations that might assist and advance remote therapy. Even so, we think that in this book we succeeded touching principle dilemmas related to “distant” human encounters and addressed possible solutions to them.
