[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Judy Kuster
Date: 16 Oct 2005
Time: 08:38:10 -0500
Remote Name: 24.197.195.76
This is something I've struggled with for many years already. I know in the paper you are careful to state that "We certainly were not conducting treatment in any formal sense in this long distance relationship. Mickey viewed our exchanges that took place every two to three months as self-therapy." // But where, in your opinion, can the line be drawn when considering what one is doing in such computer-mediated "conversations", before it becomes "treatment?" There are many people like your co-author who really have no other readily-available resources, and there are also people who are starting to explore their own stuttering and are reluctant to deal with the issue face-to-face or whose stuttering is so severe that for awhile at least, written communication starts to open the conversation about stuttering. // I have a degree in counseling, I know some of what I have done on the internet is counseling. And I know that some of it has been effective. I also know that counseling is within our own scope of practice, and have wondered if I am in fact "treating by correspondence." // I also need to say that I admire you all for taking the time and commitment that this type of correspondence involves. It is certainly nothing that can be done with many people at the same time! And although it wasn't "treatment," your conversations have certainly been "therapeutic." I'm glad there are people like you. // Judy Kuster