6 Online Couples Counseling Options For Long-Distance Relationships

published on:

Updated on:

Contents:

Note: Your support drives Find-A-Therapist. We earn a commission if you purchase services through our ads.

Looking for a therapist?

Couples in long-distance relationships sometimes face issues relating to misunderstandings and communication breakdowns. Moreover, physical separation and busy schedules can make it difficult for you and your partner to resolve relationship conflicts while in a long-distance relationship.

Online long-distance relationship (LDR) counseling can rebuild trust and maintain a stronger emotional connection between you and your partner. Online therapists can help you understand the causes of conflicts in your relationship, and guide you through different ways to resolve these issues.

Want to skip right to the suggestions for online couples counseling for long-distance relationships? Here are our 6 recommended therapy solutions:

  1. ReGain
  2. Ritual
  3. Find-a-therapist.com
  4. Online-therapy.com
  5. Calmerry
  6. Talkspace

Online Couples Counseling for Long-distance Relationships

There are a few different online platforms that give you access to experienced relationship counselors, which we’ve looked at below.

ProviderGood forLocationPricing
ReGainQuick match with the right couples therapist for youOnline therapy$65 to $90 per week (billed every 4 weeks)
RitualCouples guidance through proven interventionsOnline service$100 to $260 per month
Find-a-therapist.comFind and contact the right couples counselor for you and your partnerOnline and in-person therapyVaries depending on the counselor fee
Online-therapy.comFinding licensed and experienced therapists with a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approachOnline therapy$40/week to $88/week (including our 20% discount first month)
CalmerryIndividual relationship counselingOnline therapy$49.50 to $73.75 per week (billed monthly)
TalkSpaceRelationship counseling, marriage counseling, premarital counselingOnline therapyVaries according to insurance coverage or self-pay options

1. ReGain

ReGain

Tailored for individuals and couples navigating relationship or marital issues – ReGain is your online relationship therapy solution. Starting at $65/week, you can schedule one weekly live session and message your therapist anytime. Start your path to healthier connections with ReGain – fill out their online assessment form.

Note: We collaborate with top-tier mental health companies and receive advertising fees from purchases through the ReGain link.
  • Good for: Quick match with the right couples therapist for you.
  • Location: Online therapy.
  • Pricing: $65 to $90 per week (billed every 4 weeks).
  • Features: iOS and Android app available, message your therapist anytime, live sessions are scheduled weekly and done via live chat, phone, or video call.

ReGain is an online platform that provides access to relationship counselors. On visiting the ReGain website, you are asked different questions about yourself, your partner, and the problems you’re experiencing. Based on this information and your preferences in a therapist, you are matched to an available counselor with relevant experience and expertise.

Read our ReGain review here.

2. Ritual

Ritual

Ritual assists you in healing and transforming relationship issues into opportunities with the aid of their experienced Relationship Experts and science-backed methods. Complete the Ritual assessment to begin rekindling your relationship with 1:1 sessions with experienced professionals, personalized in-app content, guided reflections, and activities between sessions.

  • Good for: Couples guidance through proven interventions.
  • Location: Online service.
  • Pricing: $100 to $260 per month
  • Features: 1-1 sessions with relationship experts, online activities and personalized skill-building content, option to join together as a couple or on your own.

Ritual is a service that enables you to overcome long-distance relationship struggles so you don’t lose what you have and reignite the feelings that got you into this connection in the first place. You can join Ritual together as a couple or on your own, and you can always change as you go.

3. Find-a-therapist.com

Find-a-therapist.com
  • Good for: Finding and contacting the right couples counselor for you and your partner.
  • Location: Online and in-person therapy.
  • Pricing: Varies depending on the counselor fee.
  • Features: Filter your search, find accessible and effective online and in-person therapy, find guides on different types of therapy.

Find-a-therapist.com has an online directory where you can find a range of qualified professionals with expertise in different areas including counseling for long-distance relationships. You can choose and contact your therapist after checking their profiles.

4. Online-therapy.com

Online-therapy.com

Discover transformative online therapy with Online-therapy.com. Through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Online-therapy.com offers individual and couples support starting at $45/week. Engage in sessions via video, voice, or text for maximum flexibility. Fill out their online questionnaire to get started.

  • Good for: Finding licensed and experienced therapists with a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach.
  • Location: Online therapy.
  • Pricing: $40/week to $88/week (including our 20% discount first month).
  • Features: Unlimited messaging with your therapist, including a daily journal and activity plan, yoga and meditation videos, and tests to see your progress.

Online-therapy.com offers access to licensed therapists who provide support and guidance to couples in long-distance relationships. Couples can communicate with their therapist via secure messaging, live chat sessions, or scheduled video calls, allowing for personalized feedback and assistance.

Read our online-therapy.com review here.

5. Calmerry

Calmerry

Embark on a journey of mental wellness with Calmerry. With diverse subscription options, starting at just $50, Calmerry makes prioritizing your mental health simple and accessible. You can message your therapist any day or schedule a live therapy session from the comfort of your home from any device. 

  • Good for: Individual relationship counseling.
  • Location: Online therapy.
  • Pricing: $49.50 to $73.75 per week (billed monthly).
  • Features: Message to your counselor anytime, text therapy and video therapy according to the plan you choose, free counselor switching.

Calmerry has a network of therapists and experts in individual relationship counseling, which can be useful if you are in a long-distance relationship and you are wondering how to improve communication, intimacy, and trust in your relationship.

Read our comparison between Calmerry and BetterHelp here.

6. TalkSpace

TalkSpace

Tailored to individuals, couples, teens, and offering psychiatry services, Talkspace plans kick off at a wallet-friendly $69 per week. What’s more, many health insurances also cover their services, enhancing accessibility and affordability. Complete a questionnaire and get matched with the right therapist for you.

Find-a-therapist readers get $100-OFF with a code SPACE.
  • Good for: Relationship counseling, marriage counseling, premarital counseling.
  • Location: Online therapy.
  • Pricing: Varies according to insurance coverage or self-pay options.
  • Features: Accepts insurance, pick your therapist from a list of recommendations, live video sessions and unlimited messaging with your therapist.

TalkSpace is another platform that can connect you with a licensed counselor to help you resolve relationship issues. The therapists on TalkSpace can identify the causes of your relationship problems, and help you and your partner forge a stronger bond.

Read our TalkSpace review here.

Causes of Relationship Issues for Long-Distance Couples

Couple in a long distance relationship.

Couples in long-distance relationships face certain conditions that may increase their risk of relationship problems. Some of these issues are discussed below.

Communication Gaps

If you have a busy routine, it isn’t always easy to maintain regular communication with your loved one, because you are physically distant from each other. When you cannot maintain a daily conversation with your significant other, this may cause a gap to form between you.

This could be why you might feel it difficult to have a healthy conversation after a period of intermittent communication. This communication gap is one of the main causes of LDR issues.

Lack of Physical Intimacy

When you are in a romantic relationship, you desire physical intimacy, which strengthens your relationship. However, if you and your partner live in different states or countries, there’s a lack of physical intimacy, which may result in frustration or dissatisfaction in the relationship for one or both parties.

Misunderstandings

When your partner is busy with work or study and doesn’t respond to your messages quickly, this may cause you to feel frustrated or neglected, which can lead to misunderstandings.

In some situations, you cannot properly express your thoughts or feelings to your partner due to the distance between you, which may lead to misconceptions and incorrect assumptions being made about your partner’s attitudes and feelings towards you.

Fear of Being Replaced

You may experience a fear of being replaced by someone else when you are in a long-distance relationship. This fear usually arises due to a lack of trust, but it can be exacerbated if a partner has been cheated on before in a previous relationship.

Fear of being replaced results in reduced self-esteem and anxiety, which can lead to relationship issues.

Lack of Emotional Bond

When you are facing stress at work or have had a bad day, you need someone who consoles and understands you. You need someone who makes time for you despite their busy schedule to calm and comfort you.

But in long-distance relationships, you cannot always completely understand your partner’s emotional needs because you live in different parts of the world. This may lead to your emotional bond and attachment declining over time.

Benefits of Online LDR Counseling

Online counseling makes it easy to connect with your therapist and attend counseling sessions with your partner, even if physically separated.

Some of the other benefits of online counseling for LDRs are explained below.

Time Savings

Online counseling makes it easy for you and your partner to attend counseling sessions over the internet without traveling to a counselor’s office. You can get the help you need without having to travel for hours, helping you to save time and money, even if it’s just you attending counseling sessions without your partner, to begin with.

Affordability

Woman receiving online couples counseling.

Compared to in-person relationship counseling, online LDR counseling is often cheaper, even without factoring in the reduced travel costs involved for long-distance couples. This makes it easier to afford counseling sessions for you and your partner.

The only downside is, online therapy is not typically covered by health insurance providers. However, for couples counseling, the same is true of in-person therapy – typically, there needs to be a diagnosable mental health condition for your health provider to cover some of the cost of treatment.

Easy Accessibility

The easy accessibility of online counseling makes it more convenient for LDR couples to attend counseling sessions. You and your partner can easily join therapy sessions using any modern smartphone, laptop, or tablet, from the comfort of your own home.

This means that if you or your partner cannot leave home due to a physical disability or childcare care responsibilities, or for any other reason, you can still get help with your long-distance relationship.

Lesser Social Stigma

Some couples avoid going to mental health professionals to resolve relationship issues because of the social stigma attached. Fear of being judged by your family, friends, and the community may be a hurdle for some people in resolving relationship issues.

Online counseling allows you to get help with your relationship issues without fear of being judged.

Psychological Techniques Used for LDR Counseling

Woman getting online therapy.

There are many techniques used to counsel individuals in long-distance relationships. Some of the main psychotherapeutic techniques your couples counselor might use include the following.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

In CBT, a counselor collects certain information from you and your partner in the initial stages. They will assess the types of conflicts or disagreements you’re facing, and each party’s attitudes and responses to these issues. Next, the counselor interprets this information to identify the root cause(s) of the relationship problems you’re facing.

After identifying these root causes, the counselor uses counseling sessions to bridge the communication gap between you and your partner. Your counselor may also make you aware of your negative behaviors and attitudes so that you can replace them with more positive ones, if this is one of the issues identified during the initial analysis.

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)

Woman receiving online therapy.

REBT is grounded in three main stages, known as the ABC model.

  • A: Activation of circumstances when something occurs around you.
  • B: Belief that explains your assumptions about the incident.
  • C: Consequences – that is, your emotional reaction.

In REBT, a therapist tries to identify your negative emotions or behaviors in different scenarios. The therapist usually reaches the root cause of your negative behaviors using this information. Typically, irrational beliefs embedded in the conscious or subconscious mind are the main causes of these attitudes and responses.

The therapist may question your irrational beliefs so that you can be more aware of your irrational behaviors. After acknowledging your negative and irrational beliefs, a counselor will also help you replace these beliefs with more rational thoughts or beliefs.

This ABC model works to help you in identifying your weak points, such as expectations from others that may hurt your feelings, and how being dependent on others for your happiness can cause distress. This type of therapy helps you to overcome some of the wrong beliefs or behaviors that can cause issues in your relationship.

Psychodynamic Couples Therapy

Sometimes it can be difficult to understand your feelings and actions in response to a given situation. Psychodynamic therapy might help you understand your emotions and feelings about certain things a bit better.

This is a simple and easy type of therapy where you have to say what you feel in front of your therapist and then try to change your specific patterns and responses to your partner in a relationship.

Essentially, during psychodynamic therapy, you can talk about your thoughts, and come to a conclusion where you understand yourself and your emotional responses much better. This technique can help you and your partner resolve a long-term conflict, and develop a stronger relationship over the long term.

Other Techniques That can Also Help

Recognize and Label Your and Your Partner’s Emotions

It’s good to recognize and label your feelings and the feelings of your partner as well. When there are disagreements, you should respect the privacy of your partner, and hear what they have to say. It’s important to allow your partner to express themselves and listen to them, instead of trying to influence your partner’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.

Understanding your partner’s emotions is also very important to help you maintain a healthy relationship with each other. For some people, understanding the emotions of others can prove difficult – a counselor can help you to develop your skills in this area.

Identify External Factors

Couple smiling at each other.

It can be valuable to identify the external aggravating factors that contribute towards conflicts in your relationship, for instance, an increased workload on you or your partner that is not letting you spend more time with each other.

This helps you to avoid blaming each other for issues that are beyond your direct control, and can help you and your significant other to develop strategies to overcome these external issues if at all possible.

Focus on the Solution, Rather Than the Problem

No matter the type of relationship conflict you’re dealing with, your main aim must be to reach a solution that will allow you to build a strong and healthy relationship between you and your partner.

To avoid either person feeling singled out, and to avoid conflict escalating further, it can be beneficial to focus on solutions to problems, rather than the problems themselves (either perceived or real). This can give you and your partner something to strive towards, while avoiding blaming them for issues that have arisen in the relationship.

Conclusion

If you and your partner are in a long-distance relationship, you might face issues due to miscommunications, a lack of intimacy, and potentially a fear of being replaced. Platforms such as the ones mentioned above offer online couple counseling that can help you and your partner resolve relationship issues.

The certified counselors at these platforms use psychotherapeutic techniques such as CBT, REBT, and psychodynamic therapies to identify the root causes of relationship issues and explore the possible solutions to your problem.

Additional Resources

Prioritizing our mental well-being is paramount in today’s fast-paced world. The digital age has redefined therapy and psychiatric care, making support more accessible than ever. To guide you towards a healthier state of mind, we’ve partnered with pioneering names in mental health.
Note: We collaborate with top-tier mental health companies and we earn a commission if you purchase services through our ads.

Online Therapy

Discover a path to emotional well-being with BetterHelp – your partner in convenient and affordable online therapy. With a vast network of 30,000+ licensed therapists, they’re committed to helping you find the one to support your needs. Take advantage of their Free Online Assessment, and connect with a therapist who truly understands you. Begin your journey today.

Relationship Counceling

Whether you’re facing communication challenges, trust issues, or simply seeking to strengthen your connection, ReGain’s experienced therapists are here to guide you and your partner toward a healthier, happier connection from the comfort of your own space. Get started.

Therapist Directory

Discover the perfect therapist who aligns with your goals and preferences, allowing you to take charge of your mental health. Whether you’re searching for a specialist based on your unique needs, experience level, insurance coverage, budget, or location, our user-friendly platform has you covered. Search here.

About the author

Dr. Irfan Siddique
When individuals experience mental trauma or face severe stress, their lives can unravel. Dr. Irfan Saddique's job is to help begin the healing process. He assists his patients in improving their mental health, strengthening relationships with others, and beginning to overcome past traumas. He practices a wide range of psycho-behavioral therapies and possesses more than three years' experience in clinical psychology and counseling.

In his spare time, Dr. Irfan Saddique is also a professional writer who spreads awareness about mental health issues. He has written many articles on this topic over the years for numerous different publications.

His educational background includes an M.B.B.S from the University of Health and Sciences, Lahore, majoring in Behavioral Sciences, and a Bachelors from G.C University, Faisalabad.

You might also be interested in

Disclaimers

In some articles, we include products we think are useful for our readers. When you buy through these links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.

Information on our website is for educational and informational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a mental healthcare professional.

Online Therapy, Your Way

Discover the ease of starting therapy with BetterHelp. Complete the assessment and connect with a licensed professional therapist online.
Note: We earn a commission if you purchase services through our ads.