'I think there's something pretty scary about crying in front of someone when you're in the same room, that feels a little bit less scary when you’re separated by a computer screen.”
, LMHC, who used to only treat patients in New York City, expanded her practice during the pandemic to include online clients in Pennsylvania, where she recently got a license, and New Jersey, where she has a temporary license.
“I’m not a touchy feely person, not that your therapist is going to give you a hug,” she said. “But I think there's something pretty scary about crying in front of someone when you're in the same room, that feels a little bit less scary when you’re separated by a computer screen.” “I do want to go back to the office [but] I really am trying to avoid doing therapy in masks,” he said. “That's important — at least you can see the face on Zoom.”, a center dedicated solely to eating disorder treatment, is also remaining online indefinitely.
“I was so happy to be able to continue to have some sense of normalcy in life,” said Kalotihos, who was in treatment atfrom October 2020 to February 2021. “Because that's always been my highest priority in treatment — is yes, to actually recover and be able to put my best foot forward in treatment. But also, I don't want to stop my life completely if I don't have to.”
One of the only drawbacks to online treatment was that patients could more easily engage with their eating disorder behaviors, Kalotihos said. “I saw my patients struggling tremendously and in pain, in isolation and fear and terror, decompensating in their eating disorder. And doing all of that in the context of a pandemic, that was absolutely terrifying,” Sappho said.