Only in-Person.
In- person benefits include access to nonverbal communication and a more intimate personal relationship.
Online psychiatry limits access to unspoken feelings, visual cues, and tactile experiences.
A New York Times article (“Should You Resume In-Person Therapy?”) reports that many mental health providers find online sessions fatiguing and have difficulty staying focused. Some patients express frustration that they can’t tell if their online provider is listening or distracted. Some even wonder if their provider is scrolling through their cell phone or the Internet during session.
The accuracy of psychiatric diagnosis is the highest in cognitive disorders at 60%, followed by depression at 50% and anxiety disorders at 46%, whereas the diagnosing psychosis was 0%.
As a result, telehealth evaluations that do not take place in person would reduce diagnostic accuracy by 30%.