Telepsychiatry: what clinicians need to know about digital mental healthcare

Thomas J Brunt; Oliver Gale-Grant

doi:10.1192/bja.2022.42

Telepsychiatry: what clinicians need to know about digital mental healthcare

BJPsych Adv. 2023 Jul;29(4):230-238. doi: 10.1192/bja.2022.42.

Authors

Thomas J Brunt¹, Oliver Gale-Grant²

Affiliations

¹ Psychiatry core trainee at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, with an interest in telehealth and the use of technology in healthcare.
² Conducts research in the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science at King's College London, London, UK, focusing on computational modelling of brain development.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated the use of online and remote mental healthcare provision. The immediate need to transform services has not allowed for thorough examination of the literature supporting remote delivery of psychiatric care. In this article we review the history of telepsychiatry, the rationale for continuing to offer services remotely and the limitations of psychiatry without in-person care. Focusing on randomised controlled trials we find that evidence for the efficacy of remotely delivered psychiatric care compared with in-person treatment is of low quality and limited scope but does not demonstrate clear superiority of one care delivery method over the other.

Keywords: Clinical governance; community mental health teams; history of psychiatry; outcome studies; randomised controlled trial.

Publication types

Review