Telehealth helps stop suicidal ideation for many patients, study finds

"Recently, the Journal of Medical Internet Research published some significant data highlighting the efficacy of psychiatric care delivered through telehealth: Those in the treatment group were 4.3 times more likely to have suicidal ideation remission.

This is noteworthy because telehealth has not traditionally been equipped to treat those with the most severe symptoms of mental health due to the oversight necessary to actually provide safe, effective treatment, said Dr. Mimi Winsberg, chief medical officer at Brightside Health, which led the study.

We spoke with Winsberg to get an in-depth look at this study and what the results mean for the future of telehealth and mental healthcare.

Q. Please talk about your new study that examines the impact of telepsychiatry on reduction in suicidal ideation over time. Who was involved? What kind of care did they receive? What role did technology play?

A. The study, which was published in JMIR Formative Research, sought to determine if Brightside Health's telehealth platform, which is equipped with precision prescribing clinical decision support, could successfully reduce suicidal ideation among enrolled patients, versus a control group who tracked their symptoms on the platform without receiving care.

Another goal of the study was to describe the symptom clusters of patients who present with suicidal ideation in order to better understand the psychiatric symptoms associated with suicidal feelings. The study was large scale including participants of diverse geography and social demographics.

It included a total of 8,581 people who completed a digital intake on the Brightside platform. Of those, 8,366 elected to receive psychiatric care from Brightside, while 215 tracked their symptoms on the platform without receiving care..." Lire la suite