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Telepsychiatry: Improving Life With ADHD

Online Therapy Proves Effective for Rural Children With ADHD and Their Parents; CloudVisit Telemedicine Looks to Broader Applications for Private Adult ADHD Support

COLD SPRING, NY–(Marketwired – Apr 8, 2014) – The success of telemedicine has catapulted beyond remote lifesaving medicine to life-improving healthcare. Through online programs, providers are supporting the long-term physical and emotional needs of patients near and far. As telemedicine and telepsychiatry become quality of life mainstays, healthcare professionals continue to explore condition-specific applications for improving patient care via the Internet. In a recent telepsychiatry trial, online therapy proved successful for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Affecting both children and adults, ADHD is a condition that requires long-term support and frequent follow-up visits with mental health professionals and therapists. CloudVisit Telemedicine, industry leader in HIPAA-compliant telemedicine, believes the success of pediatric telepsychiatry for ADHD has great implications for the delivery of ADHD services to adults.

“ADHD is a lifelong condition and telepsychiatry is a cost-effective, personal way to receive long-term care,” said Daniel Gilbert, president and CEO of CloudVisit Telemedicine. “For families, it means a less stressful, less time-challenging way to support their children. For adults, it offers access to and compliance with consistent, private tools for managing ADHD.”

Pediatric telepsychiatry and ADHD success

From November 2009 to August 2012, researchers compared ADHD pediatric therapy and parental support via telepsychiatry to traditional, in-person care. Over a 22-week period, each of the 223 children, aged 5-12, and their parents participated in six sessions that included education, medication management, and parental behavior training.

Parents of the children receiving online support reported significant improvements — more so than the in-person control group — in the areas of ADHD inattention, hyperactivity, oppositional defiant disorder, school performance, and adaptive functioning. The teachers of the participating children also reported improvements in ADHD inattention and school performance.

The rural telepsychiatry study was conducted under the Children’s ADHD Telemental Health Treatment Study (CATTS) in Seattle, Washington.

Adults to benefit from ADHD telepsychiatry

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, roughly 8 million adults are affected by ADHD, yet less than 20 percent have been diagnosed and far fewer are actually receiving treatment.

“With CloudVisit, mental health professionals can establish a custom-branded platform for supporting patients remotely. Busy adults can access consistent ADHD support without social stigma or time away from work; convenient access to the tools they need to thrive personally and professionally,” said Gilbert.

CloudVisit gives providers and patients secure point-to-point connectivity and easy tools, including an appointment calendar, document sharing, and HIPAA-compliant video sessions.

“We’re enthusiastic about how far telemedicine and telepsychiatry can go in bringing patients and providers together. As an affordable, accessible, and comfortable means of receiving healthcare, they will continue to prove effective across a wide range of conditions,” Gilbert said.

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