Gil elaborated on his challenges as an individual and a professional dealing with the new situation and with all his tasks at home and work through the complicated experience of continuous work on video:
In this period, I was also in a different emotional place. Beyond my feelings revolving around the changes in everyday routines, which we all experienced, my own conduct in my clinic was fundamentally different. All day I sat in my office alone, although my patients were on video, but I mostly felt alone. This weighed on me, and I think that I was more sensitive about the issue of my clients’ loneliness because I myself experienced loneliness. In addition, the sessions become more “business-like.” The absence of the inviting smile in the waiting room and the lack of time clients spent in the clinic kitchen affected the emotional tone of the sessions. At first I thought that this was positive, because there was less escape into the defenses that the setting afforded, but in practice, it had an adverse effect on the intimacy and sense of comfortableness… All these things also affected my fatigue from the video conversations. I ended a day of therapy depleted of all my strength, I felt both physically and mentally tired, not like I felt on my days of face-to-face therapy.
In remote therapy work, clients were located in different places rather than in the familiar therapy room where the therapists typically continued to work. Gil describes this as another challenge:
In addition, clients sat in a different place. They no longer sat on the couch in the clinic, but tried to find an intimate space in their home where they could conduct a video conversation (which was challenging in itself when other family members were at home). The interesting thing was that women were inclined to meet me in their bedroom while men chose sites outside the home (primarily in their car, parked near their house). Of course clients’ location and their sense of intimacy and security also affected the sessions themselves, and their content, but especially the transference, and feelings of insecurity, hesitance, and anxiety.
Sheerie offered a picturesque description of a remote group meeting whose participants had already become somewhat accustomed to working in the new circumstances.
During the third week of lockdown, we managed to meet on WhatsApp video. It felt as though they were prepared better this time, wanting for this session to succeed. “E” with her young kids smoking in her kitchen, “D” has found a quiet room with reception, and “M” in her own kitchen.
Remote therapy work appeared to create quite a few challenges for people who lacked sufficient experience or skills. However, it seems that many professionals in the field of psychology in Israel transitioned to remote interventions, and this was especially true for the group of professionals who participated in the current study. This study clearly illustrates how the participating professionals used their resourcefulness and creativity to make a rapid, successful transition to virtual platforms. As Weinberg and Rolnick (2019) argue, it is possible to conduct significant remote psychological interventions using technological means, but this requires that professionals address their own internal resistance to change, and acquire experience and receive proper training.
Challenges Related to Health and Mental Health issues
First of all, according to government guidelines, clients must wear masks in face-to-face sessions, which makes it difficult to develop intimacy and impedes fluid communications, as Daniella and Orna described:
They can’t stop talking about the masks. How much they bother them, and how difficult it is in the group…. And some of them also don’t hear well… so this whole business with the masks was very disconcerting for them.
In addition, participants in group sessions are required to maintain a distance and avoid any physical contact, as Judith noted, “The difference is… that today… in Covid… the hugs were virtual.”
