psihoterapie online
The transition from physical to online was not necessarily a difficult one. Studies shows that even before the pandemic, in 2019, we spent 100 days of the year online, almost a third of the time. While it’s easy and natural to talk to friends via video calls, communicate with your boss via email or listen to concerts online, it’s not the same with online psychiatry.
The psychiatrist’s office is a safe and intimate, almost sacred space for clients. Replacing it with the messy bedroom or living room where we usually sit with our family scares many people.
The screen between us and the doctor also seems impersonal and cold. In addition, there is a belief that online psychiatry are not as effective as in-office services. Thus, many end up giving up or stopping treatment indefinitely just when they need support the most.
But this decision may have adverse consequences for our mental health, which is under severe strain these days. Under no circumstances should medication be interrupted without the doctor’s consent. In what follows, we’ll discover what it’s really like to do psychiatry online, so we don’t let myths and biases get in the way of accessing the help we need more than ever in these complicated times.
One of the most common misconceptions about online psychiatry is that it doesn’t work as well as face-to-face. This fear is intuitive. We imagine that in a practice where interaction and interpersonal relationships are so important, if you move it online, it loses its most important components. This is why the general public believes that classical psychiatry is superior to the online psychiatry method.
Fortunately things are not quite like that!
Technological evolution supports us to help as many people as possible in the shortest and most efficient time. In more developed countries there are already software applications that can provide support to a certain extent for simpler cases. This helps the patient much more quickly and gives the doctor much more time for severe cases.
Other programs have been made for mobile phones and it’s like having a doctor on hand at all times. They’re even synchronized with other gadgets designed to transmit the doctor with data about your health at all times. Both you and him/her can intervene promptly when necessary. Certainly they are used in more critical medical areas…but advances have been made in psychiatry as well…and this is certainly what the future holds. So for now it is important to open up the authorities to facilitate online consultations so as not to put ourselves at risk during the pandemic.
Telemedicine is another form of online psychiatry. It literally translates as “remote healing” and is the use of technological means to deliver medical services remotely. This practice has been used since the 20th century. Back then, doctors used the phone to transmit the results of an EKG to another hospital. Today, however, technology offers us many more ways to practice telemedicine successfully. That’s why the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted this type of medicine in recent decades as the next step in medical practice.
Among the WHO’s arguments for implementing telemedicine on a large scale include accessibility and high quality at low cost. This way, doctors can serve poor and/or isolated communities with limited access to health care with minimal effort.
Telemedicine is also highly relevant to the global health crisis we are going through. Just because we have to keep our distance, including from doctors, doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from their help. That’s why the number of online consultations in the US has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic. However, there was no ban on face-to-face consultations as in Romania.
Psychological services and psychotherapy provided online are brought together under the concept of telepsychology. The American Psychological Association has published a guide to telepsychology to provide guidance to professionals practicing online psychotherapy.
The guidelines include ethical considerations, legal provisions and rules of good practice, such as ensuring the safety of client information, or guaranteeing a standard of service as high as in traditional therapy.
Bottom line, online clinical psychology services, online psychiatry and psychotherapy in general, are accredited and widespread practices. They are supported by the world’s leading health organisations. Remote medicine has been around for over a century and has shown extremely promising results. In the current context, it is the best way to get support from doctors and psychotherapists. So we should take advantage of it.
We respect your privacy. Confidentiality rules apply especially in this case. The privacy policy is even easier to implement because of the interaction from the comfort and security of your home.
We recommend that you keep up to date with the conditions that led to this situation by visiting “covid19 resource centre” on the internet.
Medic Primar Psihiatru
Psihoterapeut cu peste 15 ani de experienta (peste 10.000 de ore de lucru cu clientii), cu formare in Analiza Tranzactionala
Experienta si interes profesional in psihoterapia persoanelor care sufera de tulburare bipolara si tulburare de personalitate borderline
Fondator al Retelei de Clinici Private Hope
Presedinte al Asociatiei de Terapie Dialectic-Comportamentala
Trainer DBT
