Agree that "online private practice" is pretty unlikely to happen anytime in the near future for ethical reasons. It may change down the road, but its going to be a rocky start.
That said, there are plenty of therapy COMPONENTS that may be made available online for dispersion. We tend to think of treatment as traditional therapy (i.e. come in, sit down, talk for an hour, come back next week) on this board. Replicating this online is tough. It can be even tougher for certain populations. That said, there are plenty of COMPONENTS of treatment that I don't think there would be any issue with offering online.
There are plenty of smoking cessation services available online. Pfizer's new drug, Chantix, actually has a program online that psychologists aided in developing that accompanies the Rx. I know Glaxo developed one as well that was published fairly recently. I'm sure it exists outside the smoking lit, that's just what I'm familiar with. Would you see it for severe depression? Probably not because of suicide risk, and numerous other factors.
However, these are not "private practice" type things where you charge on ongoing fee - the financial reality might be a different there. These are academics developing things for drug companies. I would call the above "treatment", but I wouldn't call it "therapy". If you're willing to move in that direction I think there's plenty of room for more work. You just need to be careful in how you approach it. You may only be able to look at certain disorders, certain populations, etc. Its out there though, and I haven't heard so much as a peep of controversy about the above so its not like its going to make you an outcast or anything.
