MEDIA
PT NEWS EDITOR SARAH SMITH TALKS WITH ROGER GOULD, M.D., ABOUT HIS
COMPUTER-ASSISTED THERAPY PROGRAM.
Self-help has long been a popular industry, but Roger Gould is
ushering a new form into the computer age with his Therapeutic Learning
Program (TLP), a portion of which is now online at
www.masteringstress.com. Based on decades of research in adult
development, the program offers users an in-depth, interactive tool to
assess "what's bothering you, what you can do about it and what's holding
you back," as Gould puts it.
Sarah Smith: Is computer-assisted therapy going to change the
future of psychology?
Roger Gould: I see it as something that's going to be parallel,
alongside therapy. It's not at all in competition, because the main
issues of therapy are the main issues in our program. To be happy, you
have to have a good personal life, a good work life and your health. If
any of those things aren't working well, you have to make modifications
to them. And that's what this is all about.
SS: How does TLP work?
RG: It's a 10-session program that explores in very fine detail
each person's specific problem. It's what therapists do over a long
period of time, but the computer does it systematically. It's a way of
taking the art form of psychotherapy and making it an educational program
that's applicable anywhere in the world. It sharpens your thinking and
improves your development. But it's work. It's not a pill.
SS: Why would someone want to use a computer and not talk to a
person?
RG: Most people would prefer, under ordinary circumstances, to talk
to someone. We are storytellers. But there's a difference between
storytelling and listening and actually doing cognitive work.
This program forces people to do the hard thinking that gets
results. When people start using the program, the impersonality vanishes,
because they're working so specifically on their own particular
situation.
SS: What are the benefits of TLP over traditional therapy?
RG: We have a kind of discipline that therapists don't, not because
they're inadequate, but because of the nature of our medium. The therapy
field is in chaos. If it's ever going to advance in knowledge--which it
hasn't because it's been repeating the same old things in different
languages for the past 40 years--you have to have some stake in the
ground that says this is what psychotherapy is, rather than hundreds of
varieties multiplied by thousands of people putting their spin on it.
This approach of taking what we know, putting it down in a program and
trying it out with people, without the personal variable, is a way of
finding out what really works and why.
SS: How is it different from self-help books?
RG: Books have a bunch of concepts--often good concepts --with
examples, and you have to apply them to yourself. Our approach is more
detailed and personal. We're helping you apply it to yourself and think
precisely. Plus, people have to question the source of self-help. The
issue is quality. We've been doing this for so long. It just happens to
be on the Internet now, but with more people comfortable with computers,
it's all flowing together.
STATISTICS WIRED WORLD
Just a few years ago, terms such as "dot-com" and "surfing the Net"
meant nothing to the average American. Today, millions are clicking their
way through the Web. How psychology will respond remains to be seen, but
there's no question that computers and the Internet are a substantial
part of 21st-century life.
163.4 MILLION
Number of Americans who haw access to the Internet
40.9 MILLION
Number of Americans who use the Internet for health care
21 HOURS
Average amount of time people spend online at work, per week
36
Percentage of people who regard the Internet as a necessity
35
Percentage of households with a computer
9.5
Average amount of time spent online at home, per week
USER BEWARE
Quality control is the biggest problem in online therapy, say those
at the forefront of the burgeoning field. Some organizations have
recommended guidelines, but the Internet remains an unregulated
medium.
Marion Jacobs, Ph.D., an adjunct professor emerita at UCLA,
compared Roger Gould's computer-assisted Therapeutic Learning Program
with traditional therapy and found positive results. However, she points
out that not all sites are clearly backed by solid research. "The Net is
not a tightly controlled thing," Jacobs says. "I think there is room for
wariness on the part of the public."
Others agree. Psychologist Marlene Maheu, Ph.D., says that experts
who practice online are open to tremendous liability, but she thinks that
computer-based techniques can work, if they are supported by research. As
Jacobs says, "It's a case of how the Internet is used. It's a vehicle and
it depends on the quality of the materials put out there."
--Sarah Smith
PHOTO (COLOR): Roger Gould, M.D., offers a type of online
therapy.
Tags:
adult development,
art form,
educational program,
fine detail,
Gould,
impersonality,
news editor,
ordinary circumstances,
period of time,
personal life,
storytellers
