An interesting recent article from Time Magazine discussed Telepsychiatry becoming a growing trend in mental health. Telepsychiatry unlike a phone call allows doctors to observe patients’ facial expressions and body language.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is conducting the first large federally-funded randomized clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of telemental health in treating mental health problems in childhood.
The article discussed the rise in telepsychiatry is based largely out of need. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), between 7 and 12 million youth suffer from mental, behavioral or developmental disorders. And a new nationally representative survey, that was funded in part by NIMH, indicates that 50% of the children in the U.S. who have certain mental disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and depression are not being treated by a psychiatrist or other mental-health professional.
Other benefits cited in the article included expanding the geographic reach of individual psychiatrists and videoconferencing can help cut down on some of the stigma of going to see a shrink.
So far, anecdotal evidence indicates that virtual psychiatry visits work just fine for children and adolescents. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, an era in which teens feel more comfortable in front of a camera than they do face to face.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1974196,00.html?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0j354YxZr
