Zoom-therapy: online clinical setting - compromise or an opportunity?
The Covid - 19 pandemic has brought extreme changes which forced many adaptations from all of us
in almost every domain of our daily lives, both at homes and in our workplaces. Social physical
distancing was one of the greatest challenging changes human population was directed to adjust to, in
a very short time. Psychotherapy is one of the professional fields which is based upon and anchored in
the great impact that open and trusting relationships has on the psychological well being of an
individual. In psychotherapy, this relationship is created in a safe space provided by the therapist, to
enable the therapeutic relationship to evolve and grow. The profession which is based on a face to
face interaction in a safe space that the clinical setting provided, was challenged by the world
pandemic. Therapists were forced to quickly decide how to continue providing psychological help in a
time in which it was needed more than ever. They were offered to do this in a different setting which
was provided by technology, and differed greatly from what traditional psychotherapy was meant to
be. Almost a year since the pandemic intruded our lives and minds, understandings gathered from the
transition of the therapeutic encounter from the face to face to the “zoom” video setting of the
therapeutic encounter are offered.