Text-therapy company Talkspace has made great strides thus far in providing mental healthcare with the convenience of real-time communication with experienced therapists from any location. But it’s not just about practicality.
Today, the company, which as already indicated positive findings, has announced a partnership with Columbia University. It is also working on partnering with Duke University, focusing on PTSD treatment with the help of research and clinical expert, Dr. Patricia Resick. The goal is to take the extensive data gathered by users using Talkspace to determine its efficacy in patient outcomes, specifically in comparison to in-person therapy.
The company also announced the addition of Dr. Andrew Sekel as a Talkspace advisor. Dr. Sekel has had a very fruitful career – starting with a PhD in psychology from the University of Texas, followed by decades of practice and serving as chief psychologist at several hospitals in Austin, TX – not to mention his many business ventures within the behavioral health field.
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In a phone interview, Dr. Sekel shared why the web and mobile therapy Talkspace is providing is unique, why it’s different from what we generally consider telehealth and its potential to treat patients in ways traditional therapy simply can’t. Here are some of his thoughts and reasoning behind choosing to advise the company:
What led you to get involved with Talkspace?
“I thought it [what the company is doing] opened up a couple of issues that were very important. One issue was that it gave people access who a lot of times didn’t have access previously. And second, I thought that the asynchronous work that they do had some qualities that would be interesting to track in how it impacted psychotherapy. The thing that the impressed me was that they were fully engaged in getting research done and performing studies in terms of patient-reported outcomes.
One thing I’ve helped them with is looking at how they review their therapists. And I’ve helped to refine some of the things like how we strategically stay in contact with patients as well as consulting around clinical issues. I think they’re doing a remarkably good job.”
What do you think makes Talkspace in particular an interesting endeavor for Columbia and Duke researchers?
“I think in both cases, pure science research is a primary motivation – the secondary motivation is to determine if this is a way to distribute psychotherapy differently. When you think about the Duke study, warriors are coming back from overseas or veterans with PTSD that potentially live in remote areas and potentially don’t have access to care. But more importantly, they are looking to see if this work produces the kind of results that you would want to see in a psychotherapy session.
I think in healthcare, it’s always important to have external people review your work – people who don’t have a vested interest in the outcome.”
Beyond those in remote areas, do you see what Talkspace is doing as an answer to psychotherapy or perhaps supplementary to in-person therapy?
“If someone were to see a therapist in person and do this, I don’t think that would be good care. Typically the standard of care is to have a single therapist because it can get very confusing for the patient and certainly makes it confusing for those providing the service.”
What’s another example of a kind of person who could get value from this type of care?
“This provides access for a lot of people, not just rural areas – also people in metropolitan areas where it’s going to take a huge amount of time to get to see someone. It could also be for people who work, for example, in very large Silicon Valley campuses and don’t want to leave work for an hour appointment.
Those are the access issues, but the more important part is to look at the type of results compared to face-to-face psychotherapy. If it does, which we are in the process of finding out, then that opens up a whole new door in how we provide this kind of care in a way that many people might prefer.”
Elaborate on what the extra benefits of text-therapy are that in-person therapy and telehealth can’t provide, specifically the asynchronous aspect.
“When people talk about telehealth, I think most people think about video and telephones. I think what’s interesting about what Talkspace is doing is that it’s asynchronous versus synchronous. Synchronous communication is what we’re doing right now, talking back and forth. Asynchronous means I text you something, and then you wait, and then we make sure that the following responses are short, but frequent, as opposed to trying to condense everything into a 50-minute session. But it also allows people to think about things differently – you can stop to think about what you’re going to say.
But the part that’s really interesting, in terms of long-term research, is that for the first time we are digitally collecting every single word that happens in a session. In this case [compared to traditional therapy] when it’s all text, it really changes how much we can capture what actually happens in an interaction between a therapist and a patient.
It adds a certain dimension that’s very interesting in psychotherapy.”
Photo: Flickr user Brandon Warren
