Don’t neglect your mental health during this pandemic

As the novel coronavirus spreads across the world, both the fallout from the covid-19 pandemic and the best safeguards we have against it, could make that number a lot bigger.

We have the technology we need to allow doctors to stay in touch with patients they can’t see in person. Now, we must act quickly to remove the obstacles posed by regulations and insurance bureaucracies, so doctors can provide critical mental health care.

Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, psychiatrist and filmmaker attended one of his patients, a doctor herself, estimated that there was a better than 50 percent chance she’d contracted the coronavirus, he can’t meet him because he could get the virus. A virtual session conducted with a cellphone via video conference proved invaluable. This tool, telepsychiatry isn’t new, it is been used for two decades, doctors have successfully counseled their patients in rural areas where there are no psychiatrists.

By: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg and Chirlane McCray | The Washington Post

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