They are skilled professionals who take their sacred duty as healers very seriously. They don t harm people. They help people. They are pioneers who saw a need, took a risk, reached out to help. They are forging this new field because they believe that it is helping people.
Professional associations are often slow to endorse new practices.
That s not a bad thing. They have to be very responsible about reviewing research and carefully examining the new practice, before they will say that it is or isn t ethical, when it s effective, and for whom. This research is being done now. Eventually, ethical codes will catch up. In the meantime, every day, hundreds, maybe thousands of people form relationships via the Internet with professional psychotherapists and these people are being profoundly helped by this process.