The Doctor Weighs In

According to a front page article in the San Francisco Chronicle, a growing number of teens and twenty-somethings prefer text messaging to talking. The article describes the findings from the “Silicon Valley Cultures Project” being conducted by San Jose State University Anthropology Professors, Jan English-Lueck and Chuck Darrah.

The Chronicle describes the view of 23 year old Stanford administrative assistant, Hana Xu who says,“It’s easier to say what you really want to say online because you don’t get cut off or interrupted.”

Texting, it seems creates an emotional distance as well as a feeling of control that is much harder when conversing face-to-face.

Some people in health care are trying to adopt and adapt on-line communication technologies to deliver more efficient and effective services. One area in which this is happening is the field of mental health. The Chronicle article describes the practice of a California psychologist, Ofer Zur, who regularly uses the telephone, the Internet and email to communicate with some of his patients. He says, “We need to move away from the tyranny of therapists who believe only in face-to-face conversation.”

The article lists a number on online group therapy organizations, such as FamilyTherapyNet.com and eGetgoing.com. [I have not checked this out so don’t view this as an endorsement of these organizations.] The American Psychiatric Association posts answers to FAQs about e-therapy. And a new professional organization, the International Society for Mental Health Online has developed guidelines for ethical e-therapy practices.

I believe going forward we will see more and more healthcare delivered over the Internet and via electronic communication technologies, whether email or text messaging. There are a number of reasons why this makes sense. First, this is how a significant subset of the population wants to communicate. Second, people are just too busy to take a day or half-day off of work to go to a doctor’s office. Third, there are some issues people are more comfortable discussing anonymously or at least not in person. And, finally, these types of communications are much less costly than traditional office based health care.

Now if we can only get doctors and health insurance companies to agree that this is something that should be provided and paid for, it would be great.

This blog was first published on the PEERtrainer website (www.peertrainer.com) on September 22, 2006.