No. For one patient I have been largely doing phone therapy gratis and may continue that until she gets a new therapist. She was so physically ill for much of the time and too sick and weak to come for appointments. If they were both in the same state I would consider it- the states are close but not close enough. Thank you
???? it is not outside the standard of care at all. it is extremely common for psychiatrists/therapists to provide psychotherapy over the phone but she shouldn't do it for free. would not be screwed in a lawsuit either, its very difficult to be successfully sued as an outpatient psychiatrist and telephone therapy would not de facto be regarded as negligent.
It's "extremely" common for psychiatrists to do phone counseling? I wouldn't want to be the psychiatrist coordinating hospitalization of a suicidal patient from out of state.
Thanks, the one patient who I have done mostly phone therapy and med changes via phone due to her being physically ill will be ok as long as they leave her meds alone and I told her she is welcome to call "as long as it takes to find a therapist" and if that is months, years, it's fine with me. I have a very strong positive countertransference towards her and hey, I wasn't getting paid for all the phone appointments I did with her for this long........ The second patient I have only recently started seeing in the past few months and she is not stable. She was initially taking a lot of homeopathic supplements, couldn't name half of them and was on Seroquel but it caused tinnitus and weight gain and I said with all of the herbal remedies I wasn't comfortable prescribing anything other than Seroquel because that didn't seem to cause any interactions but wouldn't prescribe anything else until she stopped everything but melatonin. She did stop all the herbal supplements except melatonin (she was on over 25) but still was reluctant to try anything else and she is far from stable, so it's probably just as well that she sees someone else and for therapy I really think you lose something when it's telemedicine and not face to face. Thanks so much.
My supervisor did it on a cash basis over the phone for a few years with one patient. It would be more unofficial support, I wouldn't be charging her. My gosh I haven't charged her for practically anything in a year because she was so physically ill and did tons of phone appointments with her for therapy and med adjustments. She lives on a shoestring budget. For the appointments she has come in for I waived the copay due to economic hardship.
But to actually get an appointment and to find one you like.............
