Telepsychiatry is the application of Telemedicine to the field of Psychiatry. It has been the most successful of all the telemedicine applications so far, because of its need for only a good videoconferencing facility between the patient and the psychiatrist, especially for follow-up. There are sub-specialties like forensic telepsychiatry, in which the patient is typically an inmate accessing the psychiatrist who is from a supporting institution, and home-based telepsychiatry, whereby the patient is in his own home or office, accessing the physician via webcam and high-speed internet. Another common application is for patients in rural or under served areas, and there are a large number of grassroots telepsychiatry programs springing up in the United States and elsewhere to address this problem.
A recent innovation is the development of the subspecialty of emergency psychiatry via telemedicine. Research is currently on-going to develop the unique guidelines required to provide consultation for emergency psychiatric patients such as the evaluation of the suicidal, homidical, violent, psychotic, depressed, manic, and acutely anxious patient. Emergency telepsychiatry services are being provided to hospital emergency departments, jails, community mental health centers, substance abuse treatment facilities, and schools.
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