Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Telepsychiatry to Treat Depression Is Comparable to in-Person Treatment
Reuters Health News story at Medscape - "Patients treated through telepsychiatry are as satisfied and their symptoms remit as early as those treated in person, new study results suggest. Dr. Paul E. Ruskin, a psychiatrist at the VA Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore, and his team enrolled 119 veterans with depression in a randomized, control trial that comprised eight sessions over 6 months. Fifty-nine patients were assigned to remote treatment delivered by personal-computer-based videoconferencing equipment and cameras mounted on the monitors, and 60 were treated in person. Their findings are reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry for August." "med"  
  

Mental health failures (Indiana)
Indianapolis Star editorial - "Over the past several years, as the economics of health care have forced cutbacks in government programs, increased the numbers of uninsured and depressed job creation, options for those who need mental health care have even more drastically diminished. Local hospitals have "downsized" or eliminated psychiatric services and clinics report waiting lists of several months. Meanwhile, health insurance -- even for those fortunate enough to have it -- rarely provides more than minimal mental health coverage. The problem is that whatever money we may be saving by failing to offer adequate mental health treatment is costing us a hundredfold elsewhere..."