title: Therapeutic relationship on the web: to face or not to face?
abstract: In this age of unprecedented expansion of media and information dissemination and sharing, the use of electronic means should be reconsidered. The use of new technologies should be studied to understand how it may affect the relationship between patient and therapist during psychotherapy or psychoanalytic treatments. This study offers a critical discussion of the effect of technologies on clinical practice, and vignettes are used to describe their impact on frame, anonymity, abstinence and therapeutic neutrality. Transfer and countertransference issues resulting from these changes are also discussed. The potential benefits of new technologies in psychotherapy are appreciated, but the authors draw attention to the need to reflect about the presence of the therapist in those technologies and the preservation of the therapeutic setting, so that a satisfactory progression of the work of the dyad is ensured. This study also discusses the use of technologies in the expansion of learning and application of the therapeutic technique to overcome geographic and time barriers, among others.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Psiquiatria Integrada, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sfoggia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos Luís Guedes, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clarice
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kowacs
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marina Bento
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Gastaud
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pricilla Braga
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Laskoski
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Margareth
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bassols
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Charlie Trelles
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Severo
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Diogo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniela Valle
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.affiliation: CELG, SPPA, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana Benetti
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Stefania Pigatto
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Teche
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael Stella
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wellausen
authors.affiliation: CELG, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cláudio Laks
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Eizirik