There is some work that has been done on this topic. An interesting place to start would be with John Suler who has an online book on the "psychology of cyberspace". He deals with issues such as transference and the different nature of the cues that are available to you:
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html
There is another site that deals more specifically with internet therapy:
http://www.metanoia.org/imhs/index.html
And there is a book that is a collection of articles that deals with the "theraputic potential of the internet":
http://www.amazon.ca/E-Therapy-Robert-Hsiung/dp/0393703703
So...
There is also an ethical society for e-therapy. To the best of my knowledge there are a lot of 'reccomendations' but I'm not sure how much they have been passed through as laws yet. Part of the problem is, of course, the international nature of the internet. If I live in Fiji, and I'm having therapy with a person from California, for example, then which countries laws are applicable to the therapy that I'm receiving? Much has been written about these issues.
One issue that I'm particularly interested in (an issue that arises in response to the first two links, especially) is how much the cues that are available through internet media (e.g., email, chat, message board etc) are INFERRIOR to face to face cues, and how much the cues that are available through internet media are simply DIFFERENT to face to face cues. It might well depend on circumstances whether a person is better off in face to face therapy or whether a person is better off in some variety of internet therapy.
Internet therapy works better if people are:
- able to verbally express their feelings (since there is the absence of facial and postural and tone of voice cues)
- is verbal in general
- has a fairly rapid typing speed
Some things that might make internet therapy a better option to face to face therapy include:
- the person living in a rural area where they simply don't have access to face to face therapy
- the person being deaf or having hearing impairment
- the person having some pronounced physical disability or disfigurement
- the person suffering from pronounced social anxiety / inability to disclose in a face to face setting.
One idea is that internet therapy can be a useful first port of call to be replaced by face to face therapy as soon as possible (the standard line). I think the standard line is mostly an attempt to reassure therapists. I personally have more hopes for internet therapy than that.
Especially... As new forms of media become more prevalent (such as Skype and the like).