The way we read books has changed. The way we watch movies has changed. The way we talk on the phone has changed. Why shouldn’t the way we seek out and receive psychotherapy have changed as well?
Lisning.com is the perfect therapy for 2020. According to Lisning.com’s clinical director, Rabbi Shmuel Maybruch, LCSW, “Text based therapy, or text therapy, is the therapy of today and the wave of the future in psychotherapy. It’s more affordable and more convenient than office therapy. People no longer need to wait for a therapist’s calendar to open up, schedule appointments, and then be seen only once a week. With text therapy, a person can communicate with their therapist as many times as they like and receive a thoughtful message back frequently, usually every other day.”
Rabbi Maybruch further explained that, “Text therapy is a bit of a misnomer. It doesn’t mean therapy through basic text messages. Text here means written. Therapeutic conversations are written down, as opposed to spoken.”
He is quick to point out that text therapy is probably not going to replace office therapy altogether. For example, if a person is facing an acute situation, text therapy is not appropriate for them. Someone in crisis should seek immediate help. Likewise, someone who prefers the interpersonal interaction of office therapy should take that route. Rabbi Maybruch himself has a traditional private psychotherapy practice, aside from directing www.Lisning.com.
The idea behind text therapy is popular for its convenience. If you are seeking therapy, you can visit Lisning.com and select the therapist that you feel would work best for you. You don’t even have to be in the same state or time zone as the therapist. You then send a message to that therapist through a secure, HIPAA-compliant patient portal. Clients have their own secure space to write to their therapist. Those conversations are password protected and saved. They are always there to be reread, referenced or studied. You can see how far you have come by looking back at your previous conversations. You can also find an idea that you want to contemplate more or revisit an earlier discussion.
From the comfort of your own home, or office or dorm room, you can write to your therapist as many times a week as you like. Your messages can be as short or as long as you want. This provides you with a way of expressing your thoughts, emotions and feelings in real time, to a person who cares about you. It also gives you a venue to share things that can be difficult to discuss with those around you.
Text therapy has an added bonus. You can choose to remain anonymous.
“As the therapist and the patient develop a close relationship, most of the time the patient will end up sharing their name with the therapist,” said Rabbi Maybruch. “But they never have to. The decision is up to them. Even though psychotherapy has become more acceptable, people still shy away from discussing it, and sometimes, seeking it out. This is particularly true in the Jewish community, where there is still a taboo against therapy. The fact that this is completely anonymous is great. People are getting easy access to therapy on a silver platter.”
Furthermore, “Text therapy uses indirect communication, which helps people overcome normal inhibitions they might feel while expressing themselves with a therapist in the room,” explained Rabbi Maybruch. “In addition, text therapy encourages immediate journaling.”
Journaling is a common tool in psychotherapy, where patients write down their thoughts and feelings.
“That is one of the benefits of text therapy. You can be more motivated to journal in the moment and then share that with your therapist immediately.”
The licensed therapists on Lisning.com are experienced in a number of therapies, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Narrative Therapy. They can help people struggling with many different issues such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, low self esteem, marriage struggles and more. Each therapist has a detailed profile on the site to help clients decide who they feel would be the best fit for them.
One of Rabbi Maybruch’s goals is to broaden the scope of how people use psychotherapy.
“It used to be that psychotherapy was directed at curing mental illness,” he said. “Gradually we came to realize that people can aim higher. They can try to have mental health, not just mental lack-of-illness. Almost everyone can gain from improving their mental health, even if they’re not suffering. Optimal mental health should be a target for everyone. Consulting with a therapist can help people be more productive and successful, have better relationships with themselves and others, and be happier. I’m on a mission to help people help themselves easily.”
Rabbi Maybruch is a seasoned psychotherapist. He practiced privately in New Jersey for many years and now practices internationally from his office in Israel. He studied at Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah and then graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in psychology. He was ordained at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and continued post-ordination intensive Talmudic and Jewish legal study in the Wexner Kollel Elyon there, where he concurrently pursued education in psychotherapy and counseling. He then served on the faculty of Yeshiva University for over a decade. His master’s in social work is from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and he has postgraduate training with a psychoanalytic orientation from The New Center for Advanced Psychotherapy Studies. His popular blog, ShmuelMaybruch.com, has numerous articles that focus on the interaction of Judaism and psychology.
Rabbi Maybruch elaborated on his aims for Lisning.com. “Lisning.com draws on the rich traditions of psychotherapy to help people access help and grow in an accessible, private and affordable way,” he said. “This exciting platform can allow more people to get more help in more ways than they ever did before.”
To learn more or to find a therapist, visit www.Lisning.com.
