Psychotherapist Experiences With Telepsychotherapy: Pre COVID-19 Lessons for a Post COVID-19 World

Psychotherapists accelerated their adoption of telepsychotherapy during the COVID-19 outbreak to accommodate preventative isolation and social distancing. Lessons from psychotherapist experiences with technology prior to the outbreak can offer recommendations for practitioners and professional regulators. In this study, psychotherapists were interviewed about their use of technology in practice and interviews were analyzed for consistency with current literature on usual practice and professional regulations. The researchers used actor-network theory to map and explore the links and themes that emerged from the research. We found that technology use was more integrated with psychotherapy practice and psychotherapists were more confident and comfortable with telepsychotherapy than the literature predicted. Key themes arising from the interviews were psychotherapist responsibility and trust that included expanded psychotherapist responsibility, client trust, psychotherapists' self-trust, and trust of information sources. Telepsychotherapy can be enhanced by reflective, intentional practice, making space to examine routine behaviors, and developing strategies to counteract the unreliability of technology. Further, professional and regulatory bodies can support effective practice by developing clear and achievable technological competence responsibilities and by integrating technology training with mandatory psychotherapy education. Experiencias psicoterapeutas con telepsicoterapia: lecciones previas a COVID-19 para un Mundo despues de COVID-19 Psicoterapeutas aceleraron su adopción de la telepsicoterapia durante el brote de COVID-19 para acomodar el aislamiento preventivo y el distanciamiento social. Lecciones de las experiencias de psicoterapeutas con tecnología antes del brote pueden ofrecer recomendaciones para profesionales y reguladores profesionales. En este estudio, Los psicoterapeutas fueron entrevistados sobre su uso de la tecnología en la práctica y se analizaron las entrevistas para determinar la consistencia con la literatura actual sobre la práctica habitual y regulaciones profesionales. Los investigadores utilizaron la teoría de la red-actores para mapear y explorar los enlaces y temas que surgieron de la investigación. Encontramos que el uso de la tecnología estaba más integrado con la práctica de psicoterapia y psicoterapeutas estaban más seguros y cómodos con la telepsicoterapia de lo que la literatura había predicho. Los temas clave que surg