???????? What are the potential benefits of online therapy? What are the potential risks? Might better mental health be only a few keystrokes away? You can do almost anything on the Internet these days, from ordering concert tickets to downloading music (legally, of course) or even whole books. You can also receive counseling or therapy services from an online therapist.

Online counselors and therapists are using video chat services, such as Skype, as well as e-mail, and other electronic and telephonic services to provide help to people with emotional problems and relationship issues. As the number of online counseling services continues to increase, so does the controversy concerning their use.

Many professionals voice concerns about clinical, ethical, and legal issues of online counseling services (Gabbard, 2012; Harris

& Younggren, 2011; Van Allen & Roberts, 2011; Yuen, Goetter, Herbert, & Forman, 2012). One problem is that psychologists are licensed in particular states, but Internet communications easily cross state borders (DeAngelis, 2012). It remains unclear, therefore, whether psychologists or other mental health professionals can legally provide online services to residents of states in which they are not licensed.

Ethical problems and liability issues also arise when psychologists and other helping professionals offer services to clients they actually never meet in person. Many therapists also express concern that interacting with a client only by computer or by other means, such as by telephone, would prevent them from evaluating nonverbal cues and gestures that might signal deeper levels of distress than could be communicated by typing words on a keyboard or talking on the telephone (Rehm, 2008).