Online Therapy Boom Has Mainly Benefited Privileged Groups, Studies Find

During the pandemic, the number of Americans receiving psychotherapy has increased by 30 percent as in-person appointments have replaced virtual sessions. But new research dampens hopes that technology will make mental health care more accessible to those most in need.

In fact, researchers found that the shift to teletherapy exacerbated existing disparities.

The increase in psychotherapy is occurring among groups that already enjoy greater access: those with higher incomes, who live in cities, have stable employment and more education. Research has revealed this. The latest research is as follows. Published on Wednesday In the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The researchers found that among those not benefiting from the boom were children from low-income households, black children and adolescents, and adults with “severe psychological distress.”

“The entire system of care, and I think Internet delivery is part of it, seems to be moving away from the people who are most in need,” said Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. spoke. lead author of the study About access to care.

“We see that those in the greatest distress are at a disadvantage in terms of their chances of accessing treatment. This is a very important and disconcerting trend to me,” he added. .

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In the 1990s, teletherapy gained traction as a way to provide treatment to disadvantaged patients living in remote areas where there were few psychiatrists. Ten years later, it presented itself as a more accessible alternative to face-to-face sessions, fundamentally lowering barriers to care.