It’s no secret that as we age, our bodies and minds need more care than they did in our youth. To go along with this, one of the sad realities of life is that something as routine as going to a doctor also becomes more of a challenge as we get older. This was especially true during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, Teletherapy has leveled the playing field. Now more than ever, older people who need help can connect with medical professionals over the phone and online. It’s fair to say that, especially for seniors, Teletherapy has become a game changer in helping to maintain mental health while also coming with some additional advantages.
Convenience – No need to Travel
Perhaps universally, one of the worst parts of going to the doctor is actually going to the doctor. And the challenges of these trips only increase as we age. Even in the best of circumstances, it typically involves having to drive or get a ride, the latter of which may cost more if a Senior has to use a ride-sharing service such as Uber or a cab. In other cases, it could mean having to cram yourself onto a packed bus, streetcar, or subway for who knows how long. Of course, these challenges are only exacerbated if a person has mobility problems. Anyone who has tried to take a cab or an Uber while having to use a walker or wheelchair can attest to this. In fact, such issues can lead people to put off seeking in-person mental health simply due to it feeling like such a hassle. Especially when they know they will face the same struggles getting home.
Thankfully, this is one of the ways that teletherapy shows one of its key advantages. By speaking with an online psychologist, Seniors can eliminate one of the most frustrating parts of seeking medical help. Taking advantage of teletherapy means no longer having to wait for who knows how long in the hot sun or freezing cold for the bus. On top of this, taking public transit comes with additional risks. When stepping onto public transit, you never know which of your fellow passengers have a contagious illness. The last thing anyone wants is to catch some sort of illness while on the way to the doctor.
On top of all of that, we can’t discount the mental health challenges involved with trips like that. As anyone who has suffered from cognitive decline, depression, anxiety or worse chronic pain can attest, these make traveling for even short trips a nightmare. No matter if it means being on a packed bus, being in a cab, or even walking or driving there yourself. Yet again, taking advantage of teletherapy eliminates all of these stresses. By engaging in online therapy that takes Medicare, Senior patients are able to get the mental health care needed from the safety and comfort of home.
Geography is just a word
The aforementioned potential travel issues can obviously be a problem under even the best circumstances. But what if your doctor is an hour away or more? In a perfect world, everyone would only be a short distance from their local medical professional. But that is rarely the case, especially for those people living in rural areas. A survey conducted by Pew Research has shown that, on average, people in Rural Areas live at least ten miles from their nearest hospital. Seniors living in suburban areas are a little over five miles away, and Seniors living in urban areas, on average, are about four miles from their doctor. While these may not seem like large numbers, consider the already mentioned challenges involved in traveling those distances each passing year. A ten-mile trip in the winter is worlds different from that same trip in your senior year. The point is that sometimes geography alone can turn the mental and medical help one needs into much more of a challenge than it should be.
This distance issue was and is a problem that teletherapy was waiting to help solve. For Seniors, your “local” teletherapist is as close as your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop. If anything, the farthest you may have to travel while taking advantage of a telehealth service like BetterHelp is from your kitchen to your living room. Ideally, the traffic won’t be too bad on those trips. If nothing else, a teletherapy service is a lot like having a whole team of mental health counselors online right in your pocket.
Have Full Control Over Your Environment
One of the biggest impacts of teletherapy for patients involves physical comfort. Believe it or not, for all of the advantages that telehealth provides, it is one of the best and seemingly least talked about aspects. For example, think about the last physical doctor’s office you were in. Be it for a physical or mental health issue. They always feel cold and stifling in their environments, even in the best of circumstances, don’t they? In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to be intimidated by doctors’ offices, even the nicer ones.
Not every mental health professional has a big plush office with a comfortable leather couch for you to lay or sit on during your session, as we’ve seen in countless movies or TV shows. However, when speaking using teletherapy you are in full control of your environment so you can be as comfortable as possible. Do you prefer to sit in your easy chair? Lie in bed? Are you the type to pace around the room when a phone or video calls? Would you prefer all of the lights on in your home during your teletherapy session? Or would you prefer to be in total darkness or maybe even candlelight? Even down to your clothing, you don’t need to change out your PJs or most comfortable clothing to attend your season anymore. Because your online psychologist is with you virtually anywhere you go, you could have your session with them while you’re out for an evening stroll.
Ideally, when at your most relaxed, you will be more receptive to the advice your therapists provide.
No More Sitting in Waiting Rooms
Hospital waiting rooms are generally one of the worst parts of seeking medical help. Every one of us has been there. At best, you’re sitting in a giant petri dish of potential illnesses. No one wants to get sick while at the hospital. But it is unfortunately a risk with traditional healthcare. For Seniors, this risk of potential infection can be even higher. At worst, you’re arm and arm, and it’s practically standing room only. For those Seniors who suffer with social anxiety especially, situations like this are a living nightmare. The very fear of being in that exact situation may even deter people from seeking help. If a person has chronic pain, it can be just as bad or worse.
This is another spot where teletherapy has proven to be a gamechanger for seniors. All of those stresses of sitting in a doctor’s waiting room are gone. Nothing more than a memory. Instead, your “doctor’s waiting room” is anywhere you want it to be. Gone is any fear of catching an illness or sitting in an uncomfortable chair or any of the other countless reasons why we all hate waiting in a doctor’s/hospital waiting room. This way you can be as relaxed and comfortable as possible for your appointment.
Reduces The Stigma of Seeking Help
According to a survey results published on Forbes.com 22% of people who were surveyed across ten countries do not seek mental health help due to the perceived stigma around it. For Seniors, many have lived their whole lives under the false cloud that having mental health issues in some way makes a person “defective” or “broken” in some way. Like any illness, if left untreated, these views can only worsen the longer one lives with them. Especially when a person gets to their golden years, yet this time in a person’s life is when they may need the most help. A 2002 study found that roughly 15% of Americans aged 65 or older had a clinically significant depressive disorder. As the global population is thankfully living longer lives, this number naturally has always continued to rise.
Seeking help from mental health counselors online is helping to erode that very outdated stigma for Seniors. No matter which teletherapy provider you use, you can do so with the comfort of knowing that, unless you are conversing with a medical professional in a very public setting, your conversations with an online psychologist remain 100% private and confidential. You don’t have to explain to anyone where you are going, like you might have to for a traditional in-person doctor’s appointment. For those who have been dealing with the stigma of seeking mental health help, for things such as depression, anxiety, teletherapy has proven to be a game changer. For those who have never sought out help with mental health before, teletherapy has opened a new world of possibilities and a new avenue to live the happy and healthy life you both want and deserve. Having any sort of mental health issues doesn’t make a person “wrong” or “damaged” in any way; it just makes you human. No different than having a physical ailment.
Wide Choice Of Specialized Therapists To Choose From
One of the biggest advantages of Teletherapy simply comes down to the variety offered. That is to say, different therapists may have different specializations. As a result, Senior patients have better chances than ever before of finding their ideal mental health counselors online. Much like there are specialists who deal with specific types of physical ailments, there are therapists who focus on things such as social anxiety, depression, or grief. Because all of your connections with mental health professionals happen online, it’s possible for you to “test run” several different therapists or teletherapy services within the course of a day. Imagine how long that process would take for in-person consultations! This also means that you, as a senior patient, have a much larger pool of potential online therapists from which to choose. You practically have as many choices of potential specialists to suit your needs as there are stars in the sky. And they are only a phone or video call away.
Once you find the therapist or therapists that you are able to work best with, you are a major step closer to tackling your mental health issues and living the life you deserve. As Seniors especially, the prospect of potentially meeting several doctors can be daunting. With Teletherapy, it’s as simple as making a phone call. If you’re not compatible with someone, or if they can’t provide the help that you need, ending the session is as simple as hanging up the phone.
Save Time
One of the biggest benefits of teletherapy comes down to the fact that it saves time. Since there are no appointments to get to you, you are able to spend more time on the things that matter. Just for a moment, think of all the time it takes to get ready for your in-person doctor’s appointment. Then factor in the time it takes to get there and when you’re in the waiting room. And then there is your eventual commute back. Depending on how close you are to the doctors office just going to see your doctor in person could take at least an hour or two out of your day. Your time is important and precious. Much too valuable to spend all that time for something that you could easily do using your laptop or mobile device. So why spend time commuting and getting ready when you could be doing anything else with that time? To a point, teletherapy has helped to shine a light on all the time we previously wasted on personal doctor appointments.
Works Around Your Schedule
As we get older, it’s essential to be able to spend our time doing the things we want to do when we want to do them. Teletherapy allows you to do just that because it works around your schedule. You can schedule your appointments that suit your needs and not just be confined to when a doctor is available. For in-person appointments, you are running on the doctor’s clock. If they are running late, then you are running late. If you aren’t able to make an appointment because you have a family or other matter to tend to, you again have to wait. Instead, thanks to teletherapy services, Seniors are no longer confined to this way of doing things. Mental health counselors online can have your appointments when you visit them. To go along with this flexibility comes the convenience of knowing that you don’t have to put your daily life or routine to receive the health and care you need.
Final Words
As we have learned so far in this article, there are quite a few advantages to using teletherapy services for Seniors. Teletherapy services provided by the likes of Total Life, Better Help, and others have proven to be game-changers for seniors. Thanks to the continually evolving ease of use, more and more seniors can access the healthcare they need. Best of all, people are no longer limited to the help they can receive based on where they live. All from the privacy and comfort of your own home. You deserve to live your best and happiest life, and teletherapy can help. If you are on the fence and want to try a teletherapy service for yourself, plenty of choices are available. You are welcome to check out this article, which looks at some of our favorite teletherapy companies to help you get started.
Keywords Used: online psychologist, mental health counselors online, online therapy that takes Medicare
