Is anyone still doing therapy in person?

Mine is still doing in person, but I don’t know how much longer.

seriously I’m about ready to kms some days

I am not in US and although my therapist is a psychoanalyst affiliated with International Psychoanalytic Association, he does not need any licence for practicing in my country. Thus, he is not technically part of medical healthcare system. He is working in a private practice and I'm a fully self-pay patient. So, what we do, is totally our own decision, as long as we conform to the rules imposed by the government. The government of my country as imposed no gatherings larger than two people keeping distance of 2 meters. Those requirements are fulfilled in my therapy session.

True. Which is why during my last in-person session we didn't hug. It's why since CA required a shelter in place, we chose to do video sessions. And we are doing video sessions through all of April. L and I are following the rules. We don't leave our homes except for something necessary. Actually, I don't even go out when necessary. H does for me (i.e. pharmacy). My PCP and Pdoc help me now over the phone or email. We are taking this seriously.

However, the shelter in place away from my therapist is causing harm. I am getting worse. My life is at risk. It is a necessary to continue my therapy. And we aren't ignoring the possible harm of getting the virus. If we meet, we will still be practicing social distancing. We still won't hug. She will still wipe down her office. She won't be seeing all her clients if any. We will each sit on opposite sides of the room and I'll have my own tissues and hamd sanitizer. And we won't meet if either of us have symptoms.

At least in my state (US) and several others I checked, mental health is considered an essential business, as defined by the governor's mandate, that is allowed to stay open. Neither my therapist nor I are breaking any rules or mandatory measures by meeting in person one day a week.

My PT is now teletraining. I set up a camera and move it from station to station. I don’t like skipping thyroid testing and routine dental hygiene, but I’m doing it. It seems that psychotherapy would be one of the easiest interventions to do from a distance.

I wouldn't compare going to a therapy session in person to going to spring break or having a big house party... There are higher an lower levels of risk. For example, people have to get food somehow. That could involve going to the grocery store in person, getting carryout from a restaurant (sometimes available curbside), having groceries delivered (though some of those services are either striking or completely overwhelmed right now, like you can get a delivery date a week away), or do curbside pickup, if the store offers that. All of those have *some* level of risk. Some are higher or lower than others, and could depend on, say, what time of day you go, if you're going to the store itself. I don't see going to a therapy session, where two people sit in a room, ideally at least 6 feet apart, and taking precautions like wiping down furniture/door handles/etc. as being particularly high risk. It's low risk, as those things go.


And I'm not seeing my T in person (I opted to switch to telehealth the last time he offered in person, then he switched to telehealth only immediately after), but my H is going to his physical therapy appointment tomorrow (rehabbing an injury), after I basically made him skip the past few (as it's a big room where they do some of the exercises, but many people are no longer going--like they told those with high risk not to attend anymore and are spacing out clients both timewise and physical distance-wise).

Admittedly my post was somewhat elliptical. Some state officials are
ignoring recommendations to the extreme of allowing beach partying while death rates in other states are climbing. Yeehaw. From my vantage point from one of the more locked down states, this appears highly irresponsible.

Admittedly it’s impossible to eliminate all direct and indirect human contact. But there’s a lot yet to learn about transmission including airborne droplets , clothing and shoes. There are virus clusters that began at parties and choir practice.

I feel it’s responsible to limit outings to essential ones. Remote therapy isn’t ideal, but possible. Tele-PT is more difficult, though my provider still was able to correct my form. I’m not an an acute stage however. My PT practice is going exclusively to remote sessions and classes.

Thread closed for administrative discussion.