Video Chat for Therapy to go Mainstream

Locating affordable care for mental health conditions can be quite challenging. Getting access to therapists and other qualified health specialists may get tough, especially since they are mostly part of in-network care, as compared with medical care. What’s worse is that you also need to shoulder a large amount of the treatment price. Despite these, there’s no need to worry, for an up and coming health care trend is here: telemedicine.

Telemedicine entails doctors to conduct their visits instead of in person into via text, phone, or video link (video call). This has also been adopted by several companies as part of their employees’ benefits (through health insurance companies).

According to a University of Amsterdam study in 2011 (published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics), online cognitive behavior behavioral treatment is an effective and viable alternative to in-person treatment. Outcomes turn out to be similar as the latter.

With this, seniors and their health care providers may consider turning to such kind of treatment when the need arises. Although face-to-face health care is still nice, there may still be hope for telemedicine. Home care services may also look into this possibility for more choices for their patients.

— Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons