Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been encouraged to maintain social distance. Technology helps people schedule meetings as remote videoconferencing sessions rather than face-to-face interactions. Psychologists are in high demand because of an increase in stress as a result of COVID-19, and videoconferencing provides an opportunity for mental health clinicians to treat current and new referrals. However, shifting treatment from face-to-face to videoconferencing is not simple: both psychologists and clients miss in-person information cues, including body language. Objective: This review proposes a new theoretical framework to guide the design of future studies examining the impact of a computer as a mediator of psychologist-client relationships and the influence of videoconferencing on the relationship process. Methods: We conducted a literature review including studies focused on communication and key concepts of the therapeutic relationship and therapeutic alliance. Results: Studies have reported that clients are generally satisfied with videoconference therapy in terms of the relationship with their therapists and the establishment of the therapeutic alliance. Conversely, studies indicate that psychologists continue to highlight difficulties in establishing the same quality of therapeutic relationship and therapeutic alliance. The contrasting experiences might underlie the differences in the type of emotional and cognitive work required by both actors in any therapy session; furthermore, the computer seems to take part in their interaction not only as a vehicle to transmit messages but also as an active part of the communication. A new model of interaction and relationship is proposed, taking into account the presence of the computer, along with further hypotheses. Conclusions: It is important to consider the computer as having an active role in the client-psychologist relationship; thus, it is a third party to the communication that either assists or interferes with the interaction between psychologists and clients.

中文翻译：

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视频会议心理治疗中客户与心理医生关系的视角：文献综述

背景：在COVID-19大流行期间，鼓励人们保持社交距离。技术可以帮助人们将会议安排为远程视频会议，而不是面对面的互动。由于COVID-19导致压力增加，因此对心理学家的需求很高，而视频会议为心理健康临床医生提供了一个机会来治疗当前的和新的转诊患者。但是，将面对面的治疗方式转换为视频会议并不简单：心理学家和客户都错过了面对面的信息提示，包括肢体语言。客观的：这篇评论提出了一个新的理论框架，以指导未来研究的设计，以检查计算机作为心理学家与客户关系的中介者的影响以及视频会议对关系过程的影响。方法：我们进行了文献综述，包括研究重点在于治疗关系和治疗联盟的沟通和关键概念。结果：研究报告称，就与他们的治疗师的关系和治疗联盟的建立而言，客户通常对视频会议治疗感到满意。相反，研究表明，心理学家继续强调在建立相同质量的治疗关系和治疗联盟方面的困难。相反的经历可能是两个治疗者在任何治疗过程中所需的情感和认知工作类型差异的基础。此外，计算机似乎不仅作为传输消息的媒介参与通信，而且还作为通信的活跃部分参与其中。考虑到计算机的存在以及进一步的假设，提出了一种新的交互和关系模型。结论：重要的是要考虑计算机在客户与心理学家的关系中起着积极的作用。因此，通信的第三方会协助或干扰心理学家与客户之间的互动。