Therapy Over IP Draws the Young, Isolated 93
Lucas123 writes "Psychiatrists say VoIP technology is more popular with patients than even in-person therapy when it comes to counseling — especially for their younger patients who are less intimidated by it. Along with many patients who like the convenience, telepsychiatry is a necessity for others who live in rural areas or are in, prisons, nursing homes or hospital ICUs. 'We've had just over 60,000 patient encounters. To my knowledge, only six have refused to be seen via teleconferencing,' said Dr. Avrim Fishkind, an emergency psychiatrist. 'We're tailor made for telemedicine because we don't check people's livers. We just talk.'" I wonder whether Eliza can be sued for practicing medicine without a license.
VOIP != video teleconferencing (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This actually seems like a good idea (Score:3, Informative)
As someone in the field let me assure you that there is well-controlled research out there that has found clinically significant improvement in client functioning due to talk therapy.
Also, the best predictor of positive outcomes from treatment/therapy is the quality of the relationship between the client and the therapist. This has been studied and confirmed ad nauseum.
A quick PsycINFo search, by anyone with access, for "therapeutic alliance" or "therapeutic relationship" will confirm that for you.