Rethinking Therapy in a Digital World: What Online Therapy Offers (and Where It Falls Short)

I was a quiet advocate for online therapy long before the pandemic made it ordinary. Early in my work I saw what it could do — the way people often speak more freely from their own space, the flexibility it gives, and the continuity it holds for clients living across countries and time zones.

So when Dr Sarah Rasmi invited me onto the Thrive With Us podcast to talk about how online therapy compares to in-person work, it was a conversation worth having properly. You can watch it here:

The short version of where I’ve landed, after years of working this way: online therapy isn’t better or worse than meeting in a room. It’s different. It does real clinical work in the right conditions, and there are moments when being in the same physical space matters. Most of my practice now moves between the two.

What online therapy in Dubai does well

For many people here, the practical case is the one that lands first. You can keep seeing the same psychologist when you travel for work, move between emirates, or leave the UAE altogether. Sessions fit around school runs and shift work without the drive across town. And for some people, speaking from their own home — their own chair, their own quiet — makes it easier to get to the harder things a little sooner.

Where online therapy in Dubai falls short

It isn’t the right fit for everything. Some of what happens in a room is hard to carry through a screen — the small shifts in body language, and the steadiness of sitting beside someone in real distress. There are moments, too, where being in the same space matters: certain kinds of couples work, or the careful early work after a trauma. None of this makes online therapy lesser. It means it’s one option among others, worth choosing on purpose rather than by default.

I’ve written a longer, evidence-based piece on exactly this — a clinical reading of five studies on whether online therapy actually holds up. If you want the research rather than the reflection, start there:

Online Therapy in Dubai: What the Research Actually Says

How to book with me

I see clients online across the UAE and in person at Thrive Wellbeing Centre, Jumeirah Lake Towers. New bookings are made through Thrive:

Email reception@thrive.ae · +971 56 895 2347 · +971 4 514 7386