GROUP is a lighthearted podcast about mental health and mental illness. Subscribe to GROUP on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or listen on Acast.

An investigation of the polarizing medium of online therapy, where the ability to remain anonymous has inspired folks who would usually balk the idea of psychotherapy to seek help from counselors on the internet. We hear from a psychologist about her frustrating and strange experience with text therapy; we peek behind the curtain at Talkspace and BetterHelp; and we chat with a digital mental health expert about his conflicted feelings regarding these platforms.

Featured Expert

John Torous, MD is co-director of the digital psychiatry program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliated teaching hospital, where he also serves as a staff psychiatrist and clinical informatics fellow. He has a b… — **John Torous,** MD is co-director of the digital psychiatry program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliated teaching hospital, where he also serves as a staff psychiatrist and clinical informatics fellow. He has a background in electrical engineering and computer sciences and received an undergraduate degree in the field from UC Berkeley before attending medical school at UC San Diego. He completed his psychiatry residency at Harvard. Dr. Torous is active in investigating the potential of mobile mental health technologies for psychiatry, developing smartphone tools for clinical research, leading clinical studies of smartphone apps for diverse mental illnesses, and publishing on the research, ethical, and patient perspectives of digital psychiatry. He serves as editor-in-chief for an academic journal on technology and mental health, JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org/), currently leads the American Psychiatric Association’s work group on the evaluation of smartphone apps, and co-chairs the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society's Health Information Technology Committee. He is an assistant editor for The Harvard Review of Psychiatry and section editor for The Asian Journal of Psychiatry as well as Psychiatric Times.

Featured Guests

Dr. Katie Davis, Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Thomas Derrick Hull, VP of Clinical Research and Development at Talkspace

Haesue Jo, MA, LMFT, Community Support Manager at BetterHelp

Alana Romain, News and Features Writer at Romper - I Tried Online Therapy For A Month And This Is What Happened

Helen E. Chalmers, Licensed Professional Counselor at Thoughtful Therapy