In The Room - Why Face-to-Face Therapy Still Matters

Written by Lyndsey Adderley, Integrative Psycotherapist and Counsellor

Everything is virtual now, right? There is very little you can’t do from your phone or laptop. Shopping? Check. Getting in touch with friends and family? Check. Therapy? Also check.

It’s easy to assume that therapy belongs on a screen – it’s flexible, convenient, widens your scope in terms of who you can see, and for many people it works just fine.

But.

To be in the room with another person? There’s an alchemy that pixels just can’t quite recreate.

Face-to-face therapy allows for nuance. Body language. Micro-expressions. Shifts in posture. The felt sense of being in a shared, connective space with another.

It also provides more possibilities for more creative type work – things that narratives can’t touch. As I’m sure my clients would tell you, working with objects to create a scene of their inner world has shifted something in them they couldn’t have predicted.

The therapy room is a container. A consistent, safe, held space. Unlike your living room, bedroom or kitchen (where distractions and interruptions are common, especially if there are children around) a dedicated therapy space sends a pretty powerful message to your nervous system: This is your time.

There’s almost something ritualistic about physically arriving, sitting, and leaving again. It draws a clear boundary around therapy and the rest of life – making it easier to process and integrate.

In-person therapy invites us to put down the devices (because let’s face it, we could do with putting them down more anyway), step away from the screens and reconnect with our bodies, emotions, and each other. Free from notifications, dodgy WiFi, or the unsettling experience of having your own face staring back at you.

Face-to-face isn’t better for everyone – and I’d be ridiculous if I thought it was. But, for those who feel like if they’re going to do therapy, they want to fully lean into it, it can offer a subtle yet profound impact.

I offer face-to-face sessions at my thoughtfully furnished space in Middlewich.