The question comes up often, and it makes sense that it does: is doing therapy over Zoom the same as in person? Does something get lost on the screen? Or does the comfort of doing it from home make up for what gets left behind?
The honest answer is that it depends — not on a personal preference of mine, but on what each person is living through, how they work best, and what conditions they have available. What I want to do here is give you real elements so you can make that decision in an informed way, not sell you one modality over the other.
What the evidence says, and what experience adds
Multiple studies, many of them accelerated by the pandemic, show that online therapy is as effective as in-person therapy for a wide range of situations: anxiety, depression, emotional exploration work, grief, life crises. The evidence on that front is solid. What the video call lost in physical presence, it gained in accessibility, and for many people that trade-off worked in their favor.
That said, there are nuances worth naming — especially given the kind of work I do.
From Polyvagal Theory, we know the nervous system reads safety signals across multiple channels at once: the full tone of voice, micro-expressions on the face, body language, even the texture of a shared physical space. When we're in the same room, your nervous system and mine are in a dialogue that a 30fps camera doesn't fully capture. For certain moments in somatic work — when attention goes very specifically to posture, to breath, to something happening in the body in real time — physical presence offers more information and, in some cases, more regulatory safety.
That doesn't mean somatic work isn't possible online. It is. But it requires adaptations, and there are contexts where presence matters more.
When online therapy works especially well
I live this format daily with many clients, and I can say clearly that it works very well in several situations.
If you live outside Mexico City, in another city in Mexico, or in another country — and there are many Mexicans abroad looking to work with someone here, in their own language and culture — online is simply what makes the process possible. It also works well if you have a highly variable schedule, frequent travel, reduced mobility, or you simply find that connecting from your own space makes it easier for you to settle into the work.
Verbal exploration, psychoeducation, working with the system of parts that IFS proposes — all of that flows well online. Many of the most meaningful sessions I've had have been through a screen.
When in-person has more value
There are moments when physical presence adds something that isn't easy to replicate on screen. In very specific somatic work — when attention is on details of bodily tension, postural patterns, or the integration of physical sensations — being in the same space lets me observe and accompany with more precision. Also at the start of the process, when the therapeutic bond is still forming, presence can help something settle more quickly, though this isn't a universal rule either.
If you don't have a quiet, private space at home where you can speak freely — a condition more people face than you'd think — in-person sessions at the office solve that from the start.
I work in Colonia Nápoles, in Mexico City. For those in the city who can make it, the in-person option is available. For those who can't, online works with the same seriousness and structure. And some people combine both depending on the moment — coming in person when they're in the city, continuing online when they're not.
The modality matters less than you'd think
In the end, the screen isn't the deciding factor. What makes the difference in the therapeutic process is the quality of the space that gets built — the consistency, the real presence of whoever is accompanying, the commitment of whoever is attending. That can exist face to face, and it can exist through a monitor too.
We make the choice between in-person and online together, in the first conversation, based on what makes the most sense for you at that moment. There's no predetermined right answer.
If you're wondering what that first contact looks like, you can read about the first session. And if you're still weighing whether this is the right time to start, when it's a good time to start can help clarify that.