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Psychiatry Comes to the Small Screen
When TV was in its infancy, it was referred to as "the small screen" as opposed to films which were shown on "the big screen" also know as your local movie house. Everything changes and now the small screen might be an apt term for your computer monitor, if it weren't for the fact that these are now so big they rival TV screens. So much for that.
The lack of adequate mental health resources in many parts of the country and, indeed, in vast areas of the world, has finally been partially resolved through the use of computers. While the kids are having great fun with their YouTube or MySpace, the rest of us can now see another important potential of computers in healthcare. The need is now being met by telemedicine and people in the mental health field are beginning to take notice.
I remember having a graduate student who was concerned that people in her area only had one mental health professional who could offer services - her. She lived in a very rural area of the country and the nearest psychiatrist was 50 miles away. At times, she felt overwhelmed, but she was a good, caring woman who gave more to her patients than I've seen in major cities. We are fortunate to have professionals like her in the field.
I've had many people on the anxiety message board at WebMD who required specialized care and yet were unable to find a doctor in their area. Driving hundreds of miles or taking a plane wasn't an option for them and so they tried to make do the best they could.
But it's something that we should be addressing. People in need are people in need whether it's for cancer care or mental health care. Each is serious, can have life-threatening consequences and often requires sophisticated treatment.
Video hook-ups will begin to sprout around the United States and the world as the reality and the benefit of this type of mental health services becomes more widely accepted. True, not everyone is comfortable sitting in front of a camera and talking to someone on a screen, but it sure beats sitting in your home and wondering who will help you. If they can do surgery with computerized robots via video, there's no reason this can't work. The problems will inevitably come up and all of us will have to provide input, but it's worth the effort.
Related Topics: Finding a Doctor Who Will Be a Partner, Depression: Finding a Doctor or Therapist
Technorati Tags: video psychiatry, find a doctor, long-distance medicine, telemedicine
The lack of adequate mental health resources in many parts of the country and, indeed, in vast areas of the world, has finally been partially resolved through the use of computers. While the kids are having great fun with their YouTube or MySpace, the rest of us can now see another important potential of computers in healthcare. The need is now being met by telemedicine and people in the mental health field are beginning to take notice.
I remember having a graduate student who was concerned that people in her area only had one mental health professional who could offer services - her. She lived in a very rural area of the country and the nearest psychiatrist was 50 miles away. At times, she felt overwhelmed, but she was a good, caring woman who gave more to her patients than I've seen in major cities. We are fortunate to have professionals like her in the field.
I've had many people on the anxiety message board at WebMD who required specialized care and yet were unable to find a doctor in their area. Driving hundreds of miles or taking a plane wasn't an option for them and so they tried to make do the best they could.
But it's something that we should be addressing. People in need are people in need whether it's for cancer care or mental health care. Each is serious, can have life-threatening consequences and often requires sophisticated treatment.
Video hook-ups will begin to sprout around the United States and the world as the reality and the benefit of this type of mental health services becomes more widely accepted. True, not everyone is comfortable sitting in front of a camera and talking to someone on a screen, but it sure beats sitting in your home and wondering who will help you. If they can do surgery with computerized robots via video, there's no reason this can't work. The problems will inevitably come up and all of us will have to provide input, but it's worth the effort.
Related Topics: Finding a Doctor Who Will Be a Partner, Depression: Finding a Doctor or Therapist
Technorati Tags: video psychiatry, find a doctor, long-distance medicine, telemedicine
