Research has found that a virtual connection to a psychiatrist may help people living in rural communities and grappling with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder acquire effective care. The randomized study, which was carried out before the coronavirus pandemic, examined how patients’ clinical characteristics impacted their experience with telehealth as well as how well they observed their treatment course.
For their study, the researchers analyzed data from about 1,000 participants with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or both, from 24 clinics in Arkansas, Washington and Michigan. The data was obtained from the Study to Promote Innovation in Rural Integrated Tele-psychiatry (SPIRIT) trial.
Their results showed that the majority of the participants engaged well with tele-psychiatry/telepsychology-enhanced referral and telepsychiatry collaborative care. The former type involves a psychiatrist making initial diagnosis and handling medication prescriptions while a psychologist offers psychotherapy through telehealth. The latter type of telehealth involves a psychiatrist making initial diagnoses, a different clinic team offering psychotherapy and a patient’s primary care physician handling prescriptions, with consultation from a tele-psychiatrist.
The researchers also found that patients who received psychotherapy from a social worker at their local clinic or from a specially trained nurse completed more than 50% more sessions than the participants who engaged with their clinicians via video. In addition, they discovered that participants who experienced manic symptoms and those with drug issues needed additional support to stay with or get started on psychotherapy.
The study was led by Jennifer Severe from Michigan Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. Severe stated that when the study begun, clinicians had reservations about using integrated care models or telehealth to treat psychiatrically complex patients, noting that engagement in care was a major concern. However, the research had demonstrated that patients who struggled with chronic physical health issues or those with multiple psychiatric conditions could engage well in mental health treatment with remote mental health specialists or primary care doctors.
A separate study that also used data from the SPIRIT trial found that significant improvements in quality of life, medication side effects and perceived access to care, as well as a reduction in symptoms of mental health conditions were observed in the patients. The study’s findings were reported in the “Journal of General Internal Medicine.”
Other researchers involved include John Fortney of the University of Washington’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the codirector of the Mental Health Innovation, Services and Outcomes Program under the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry, Paul Pfeiffer.
It is also noteworthy that as telehealth is being earmarked to play a bigger role in attending to patients diagnosed with PTSD or bipolar disorder, companies such as Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. (NEO: MYCO) (OTC: MYCOF) (FSE: ONFA) are making headway in developing better drugs that will deliver superior clinical outcomes to patients afflicted by various mental health disorders.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. (NEO: MYCO) (OTC: MYCOF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/MYCOF
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