Telepsychiatry for Patients with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder During the COVID-19 Outbreak

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged from Wuhan, China, causing a pandemic. Access to outpatient psychiatric care was limited. We conducted a pilot study of telepsychiatry during a national shutdown. Adult patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) participated via Zoom. Patient preference comparing televisits to face-to-face visits was assessed.

Telemedicine has emerged as new technological tool in the evolution of the patient-physician relationship, changing the way we interact. Physicians and patients now have access to the electronic medical record, remote point-of-care testing, and each other. The present epidemic allows us to test the limits of technology in combating limited access to care for patients with psychiatric illness.

Twenty (90% male) patients with PTSD participated. Most (90 %) were moderately to severely depressed, and 50% used medical cannabis and increased their dosage during the study period. Patients preferred face-to-face meetings for its ease of use (p < .01) and general satisfaction from therapy (p < .01). However, given continued outbreak-limiting access to care, most patients stated they would continue with telepsychiatry. While most patients preferred face-to-face visits, telepsychiatry can be used during times of outbreak-limiting access to care. Future research and development should be directed at improving technological ease of use.