In the last couple of decades, online psychological help has gone from being questionable to becoming mainstream. There is no longer any doubt in the scientific community that online therapy is just as effective as traditional counseling.

While online therapy has become hugely popular in recent years, it’s not without its risks. A number of second-rate companies are now offering ‘free’ mental health services to people on the internet.

While some of these companies do offer legitimate mental health guidance provided by counselors as well as complete programs for helping people work through mental health issues, most free services don’t.

In fact, many of the services provided by free online mental health services don’t amount to much more than a convoluted form of self-diagnosis or discussion with other mentally unwell people. These programs and services, however, are appealing to people for a number of reasons.

Different Forms of Free Psychological Help

There are a number of different online psychological health services that can be found.

  • Chat rooms are online messaging platforms that allow you to communicate with other people. In most cases, free mental health chat rooms are hosted by peers - not by qualified counselors (though this is not always the case.)
  • Forums. Forums are online message boards that allow users to post questions, stories, or information in the form of a message ‘thread.’ Other users are able to reply to these threads, sharing their own answers, stories, advice, or information.
  • Some forums do provide access to qualified counselors. It’s important that you check to make sure that the forum you’re going to be using can actually connect you with a real therapist.
  • Listening services. These are basically services which provide you with a group that will listen to you as you express your concerns regarding mental health. Again, these are generally peer-based systems and do not provide a legitimate, qualified counselor. If they do, you often have to pay extra for a counselor.

Why Free Online Psychological Help Is Appealing

Free online counseling services are appealing for a number of reasons.

  • These programs promise the unrealistic: immediate help for a mental health condition. These conditions tend to take months or years to work through.
  • They provide access to communities in which other people are struggling with similar problems. These communities allow you to share and express concerns, stories, or information with people in similar situations.
  • These programs eliminate the need to fork out the often-exorbitant prices for genuine therapy.

The Downside of Free Psychological Help

The phrase “ you get what you pay for,” rings true in many ways - especially when you’re dealing with psychological help.

There’s no doubt that psychological help can be expensive sometimes. However, the high price is often overshadowed by the incredible importance of seeking help for mental health issues. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford these high prices.

While there can certainly be some benefit to these programs, it’s important to be aware of the risks.

  • Most free services don’t connect you to an actual therapist.
  • Taking advice from other people struggling with mental health problems could be dangerous - especially if they’ve never seen a therapist.
  • These programs are not effective for serious mental health issues. Investing time in them may actually make your condition worse if it prevents you from seeing a real therapist.

Conclusion

Free mental health services can be appealing, but they’re not always the best solution. In fact, many free mental health services can actually be a danger. If you invest too much time in a free program without seeking the help of a qualified counselor, this can make your situation much worse.