Online Therapy: A Hidden Blessing for Highly Sensitive People
Since COVID struck in 2020, teletherapy became mainstream like never before. It was a Zoom boom! Life lived through a screen became the primary mode of operation.
For many highly sensitive people prone to overstimulation, shelter in place was a bit of a relief. In the face of all the uncertainty and fear out in the world; for the HSP that could, staying in a cozy home bubble was a welcome lifestyle shift.
At the same time, screens can be energetically draining and hard on the body. Connection glitches can strain an already sensitive nervous system. Blue light is hard on the eyes. Privacy can be an issue too. Of course, there’s no way spending hours and hours looking at a screen is healthy.
Human beings are incredible at adapting. We’ve had to in order to survive as a species. When it comes to best adapting to life now as a highly sensitive person, and what you need from therapy, I encourage you to consider this carefully.
Online Therapy Isn’t For All HSPs
I really do believe that some people need to see their therapist in person. Being in the physical presence of another body might be extremely important for your healing process. There’s no question that in-person therapy offers benefits that cannot be gained though any other medium.
If you have this sense for yourself, I cannot encourage you enough to listen to it. In fact, it’s crucial, and crucial to your healing. I know it can be hard at first to do the work of finding a therapist who can see you in person, but this is part of what will make a good fit for you. It’s worth it in the long run!
Highly Sensitive People Who Thrive in Online Therapy
Interestingly, for some highly sensitive folks, teletherapy has been a wonderful blessing. The intimacy and comfort of being in your own home can add to feelings of safety. The stress of commuting is eliminated. You might be able to see a therapist who lives in a different part of the state, and therefore have more options. Perhaps you have a pet that can join you for sessions.
Although online therapy might be the best option for you, that doesn’t mean that you won’t have feelings about never getting to meet your therapist in person. That might be hard. That also might be more comfortable for some! Teletherapy offers real, tangible, physical boundaries between therapist and client that can allow for increased feelings of safety for some people. It’s complicated, but sometimes these boundaries can actually allow certain people to go to more vulnerable places.
My Perspective As a Highly Sensitive Therapist Offering Online Therapy:
There are benefits and drawbacks to in-person versus online therapy either way.
I held onto my office for two years after COVID started, but I never used it to see clients in person due to the smaller size, lack of fresh air circulation, and the un-thinkability of wearing a mask during therapy. It no longer felt safe or comfortable to see my clients there, but that was a very hard reality for me to bear. It was a sacred space that I had created, and it held a lot of meaning for me. I loved the clients that I shared that room with. When I finally let my office go, I cried. I realized that by holding onto that space, I was holding back a lot of grief about all the losses and changes that COVID had brought.
However, I ultimately realized that, for me, I did not need a physical space to hold the sacredness of my work with my clients. The sacred space is in my mind, in my heart, and in the space between myself and my client: in the relationship. I realized that I could love people I had never met in person because I held their precious stories and experiences inside me, not in any external place.
In several cases, doing psychotherapy over the phone has offered profound changes and benefits. As a therapist, I feel that I do my best work this way. I am able to listen with a certain ease and attention that the screen sometimes hinders, and my clients are able to lie down and sink into themselves while having me “in their ear.” There’s a real intimacy to this; even when we can’t see each other. I’ve considered how in traditional psychoanalysis, the “patient” might lie down and there is no face to face talking during sessions, and how phone therapy might replicate this sort of process.
For now, I prefer the online or phone format of doing therapy while COVID cases continue to rise and fall. I can’t fathom wearing a mask for in-person therapy; and as a highly sensitive person myself, I know the importance of prioritizing my needs so I can better care for others. I do look forward to the day when I will return to in-person sessions for a portion of my work with clients. Yet, I will continue to offer teletherapy indefinitely; and for now, I am very happy to be able to work with anyone in California who might be a good fit.
I offer therapy for highly sensitive people virtually throughout California.