Q: “Do you think someday a computer could pretend to be a counselor, and communicate with a client?”
A: “Yes! That occurred at MIT in 1966 with the creation of ELIZA, a computer program that functions as a Rogerian therapist. Many consider ELIZA to be the dawn of eCounseling.”
The mid 60s

Though the technology is simple, ELIZA’s responses are so on key some users perceive they are talking to a real person. The following is an interview between ELIZA and a university professor acting the role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.1

User: My name is Hamlet
ELIZA: I am not interested in names
User: I am the Prince of Denmark
ELIZA: Is it because you are the Prince of Denmark that you came to me
..
User: I don't know whether I should act or not
ELIZA: Don't you really know whether you should act or not
User: To be or not to be, that is the question
ELIZA: Perhaps that really is the question
User: To sleep, perchance to dream
ELIZA: What does that dream suggest to you 2
I’m sure you can see ethical problems immerging already. Thankfully, no one really uses this program for counseling. So when did eCounseling—as we understand it—originate?

The late 90s3
The late 1990’s brought online clinics such as “eTherapy.com” and “Here2Listen.com.”4 eTherapy.com had millions in capital and, boasting the slogan “Setting New Standards in Online Care”,5 hired attorneys who were involved in writing the APA ethics code.6 Not to be outdone, Here2Listen.com acquired an advisory board of respected professionals including APA president Philip Zimbardo (he conducted the famous “Stanford County Prison Experiment”).7 The future looked bright for these young companies, but today they are both defunct. Why?—Several reasons have been suggested.8

Spending and Revenue.
The expectation that they would become huge enterprises, Internet start-ups in the late 90’s spent liberally on high salaries, expensive office suites, and other lavish accoutrements. And after the “Dot.BOMB” stock market crash in late 2000, investors became scarce.

Also, Here2Listen.com’s profits were anticipated but never came. One writer explains, “it had been discussed in mail-list groups that the market for online services had been overestimated, and some sites had closed because their large investments were not producing a profit.”9

Management and Technology.
eTherapy.com was owned and operated by non-clinicians who knew little about managing a counseling practice (one owner allegedly had a successful online business selling watches).10

Hence, eTherapy.com failed to implement practical counseling technologies, such as the telephone. Instead, at a time when the vast majority was still using dial-up connections, they encouraged therapists to provide a greeting on VHS that they would convert into web video!11

Today and Tomorrow
There are currently an estimated 928 online counselors (professionals that disclose their provider number).12 As I wonder what will become of their practices, I consider predictions like these:
"Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit their voices over wires, and even if it were possible, the thing would not have practical value."—Editorial in the Boston Post, 1865
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." —Thomas John Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."—Ken Olson, Founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977 This makes you nervous to predict anything, doesn’t it? Me too. But I think it is safe to guess that we are at the very beginning of something. That something might change our counseling practices. It might help better some clients’ lives. This is the goal of eCounseling, and only time will tell if it is history in the making.

Anthony J. Centore, Ph.D. serves as the Special Assistant to the President for the 50,000-member American Association of Christian Counselors, and is an Adjunct Graduate Professor for the Center for Counseling and Family Studies at Liberty University. He has authored numerous book chapters, articles, and is a columnist for Christian Counseling Today magazine. Anthony is author of The Clinical Training Guide for Online Counseling and Telephone Counseling. Anthony practices counseling in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. See "ThriveBoston":http://www.thriveboston.com

1 The intelligence of similar programs has continued to develop over the last 30-plus years. Today, see programs such as DAVE (who helps persons learn English) and ALICE.

2 Rapaport, W. J. (1988). Hamlet talks to Doctor ELIZA. Retrieved June 12, 2007 from http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/hamlet.script.html; Some text has been corrected grammatically, and titles added for ease of reading.

3 Note: the following reflects what I have learned from experts in the field, previous publications, and what I have found within websites present in the Internet archives.

4 Personal communication with Dr. Jason Zack, past Clinical Director of eTherapy.com, 2004

5 Viewable at Archive.org

6 Zack, 2004

7 Kraus, R. (2004). Ethical and legal considerations for providers of mental health services online, In R. Kraus, J. Zack, G. Strickler (Eds.). Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals, USA: Elsevier Academic Press.

8 Zack, 2004

9 Slavich, S. (2003). The status of online mental health services. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wichita State University. Wichita, p. 8.

10 Zack, 2004

11 Video solicitation from a webpage that has since been removed

12 Slavich, 2003