question: Background: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social restriction measures, online therapy is a life-saving possibility for patients with acute stress Wiring Affect with ReAttach (W A R A ) is a brief psychological intervention aiming to decrease negative affect, that can be offered online Methods: We assessed the effect of remote W A R A on negative affect in 37 patients Consequently, we compared the effect of remote W A R A versus face-to-face W A R A on negative affect in a cross-sectional design Results: W A R A remote therapy provoked a significant reduction of negative affect with a large effect size (d = 3 08, p &lt; 0 001) However, the reduction on negative affect was smaller than with W A R A face-to-face We found a substantial difference between W A R A remote therapy and W A R A face-to-face in decrease of negative affect (d = 1 36, p &lt; 0 001) Limitations: The major limitation of the pilot-study is the sample size of 37 patients Besides, we designed a numeric rating scale for evaluating negative affect We investigated the impact on negative affect by assessing "unpleasant feelings " This conceptualization of negative affect might still be a point of discussion Conclusion: The study's findings indicated that W A R A remote therapy significantly reduced negative affect, but to a lesser extent than W A R A face-to-face Nevertheless, W A R A remote therapy might offer a fast relief, especially when personal contact is difficult