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Chapter 16 - Telemental Health Care

An Update

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

By
Umberto Volpe ,
Defne Eraslan  and
Laura Orsolini
Edited by
Andrea Fiorillo ,
Peter Falkai  and
Philip Gorwood
Andrea Fiorillo
Affiliation:
University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, Naples
Peter Falkai
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Philip Gorwood
Affiliation:
Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris
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Summary

Advances in technology have virtually transformed communication and interaction modalities. Telemental health provides the advantages to reach those patients who may otherwise have limited mental health care delivery due to the lack of specialty professionals, limited financial resources to face costs and lost wages for travel to distant clinics, or go without services altogether. Remote technologies, including telemental health and telepsychiatry, broadly became a cost-effective and complementary tool to overcome restricted clinical practices, safely engage, and manage patients suffering with mental disorders who need care, support, and treatment. Although most research to date has demonstrated adequate comparability to traditional in-person modalities to deliver mental health care, there remain some concerns among professionals regarding the implementation of telemental health and telepsychiatry in routine clinical practice, as there may be a set of technological and logistic barriers as well as safety, privacy, and confidentiality issues to be addressed.

Keywords

telemedicinetelemental healthtelepsychiatryvirtualvideoconferencing
Type
Chapter
Information
Mental Health Research and Practice
From Evidence to Experience
 , pp. 277 - 292
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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