We use the internet for everything. We use it to order our weekly shop, our new outfit for Saturday night, but what about using it for therapy? Our lives are so busy now that when it comes to mental health, it seems like we don’t always have the time to address the issue. With things such as panic attacks, social anxiety etc, it’s easy for us to just deal with it on our own, without getting the professional help we know we need. This is why people are now turning to online therapy programmes to help combat things such as social anxiety. Programmes like Joyable are online courses that help people battle social anxiety, without the need to see a therapist. The twelve week course caters to the individual client, and they are assigned a trainer at the start of the programme. Using Cognitive Based Therapy, the programme has a number of ten minute activities and the more you do, the more likely you are to notice a decline in social anxiety. 90% of those who completed the course said they experienced a decline in their social anxiety. The programme challenges the negative thought processes that are associated with social anxiety, by helping you identify and rationalise them. Research has shown that Cognitive Based Therapy is one of the best therapies for those suffering from social anxiety, as well as many other mental health illnesses such as insomnia and eating disorders.
Joyable is by no means the only programme online out there for you to try. There are courses offering to teach you mindfulness, as well as other Cognitive Based Therapies for a number of different mental health illnesses. Many of these courses are cheaper than seeing someone and you can do them in your own time, meaning you won’t be adding the stress of taking time out of your already busy day. No doubt that these sorts of courses will become the norm, and will become increasingly popular as our work days get longer, and our work/life balance gets even more unbalanced.
Holly Martin
