Telepsychiatrist

Videoconferencing technology makes it possible to have a face-to-face conversation with your mother from a different time zone, read your kids a bedtime story while you’re still at work, and help your fiancé pick out wedding invitations from your car. Perhaps even more impressive, however, is the fact that it lets you see your Psychiatrist without having to physically lie down on the couch in their office!

Indeed, a growing number of Psychiatrists, called Telepsychiatrists, are using videoconferencing technology to have virtual therapy sessions with their patients. If you’re a Telepsychiatrist, you can: Treat patients who live in rural, remote, and underserved communities, where there is neither easy nor adequate access to psychiatric services; treat patients in the event of an emergency (for instance, if a Physician wants a quick assessment of someone in their office, or if a patient needs an impromptu therapy session to get them through a crisis at home); and maintain continuity of care, in case your patients move or are admitted to the hospital while they’re on vacation.

Although it’s done over the Internet with the assistance of a microphone and webcam — allowing you to not only hear patients, but also see their body language, facial expressions, and other nonverbal cues — your job as a Telepsychiatrist is the same as that of a traditional Psychiatrist, as it requires diagnosing mental, emotional, and social disorders, then administering treatments ranging from talk therapy to prescription drugs.

At the end of the day, therefore, you’re a real, bona fide Psychiatrist — who just happens to make 21st-century house calls!