Remote video consultations between patients and mental health specialists show a small but significant improvement on symptoms of depression and anxiety, finds a trial published by The BMJ today. Although the effect size is small, the researchers say the effect is still meaningful given the high levels of these disorders in the community. Globally, depression and anxiety disorders are among the top leading causes of years lived with disability, but most people with depression and anxiety are treated in primary care and don't have access to specialized mental health care.
Previous studies have shown that telemedicine in primary care settings can be effective, but evidence is scarce for remote consultations between patients in primary care settings and offsite mental health specialists. To explore this further, researchers in Germany investigated the effectiveness of a new mental health video consultation model (PROVIDE) for treating people with symptoms of depression and anxiety in primary care settings. Their findings are based on 376 adults (average age 45 years; 63% women) who visited their general practitioner (GP) with at least moderately severe depression or anxiety, or both, between 24 March 2020 and 23 November 2021.
Severity of symptoms was measured using the patient health questionnaire anxiety and depression scale (PHQ-ADS) and participants were randomly assigned to receive the PROVIDE model or usual care. The PROVIDE model comprised five 50-minute real-time video s.
