In March 2020, no one knew that, collectively, we would experience a worldwide pandemic. and experience an explosion in mental health conditions due to the unprecedented lockdowns, loss, and loneliness. We all experienced it.
Thankfully I had a lot of experience with telepsychiatry before the Covid-19 pandemic. I’ve been treating patients virtually for over 15 years and prior to the pandemic about 30 percent of my clinical work was via telemedicine.
When the pandemic started, I knew everyone was transitioning to teletherapy. So, I recorded this short video with Medscape in March 2020, offering some guidance on how best to navigate this new world: exclusively telepsychiatry and teletherapy. Clinicians are doing our best to navigate this new phenomenon so I hope you find some of this helpful, whether you are a patient, client, or clinician.
The good news is that teletherapy seems to be as effective as in person visits. The data even shows this. There certainly are some differences. I find some patients are more comfortable digitally and more open about some subjects and other people take a while to get used to the format.
Watch this short video for some of my initial recommendations on telepsychiatry.
