Telemental Health Care

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.