How Has COVID-19 Affected Telemedicine Use Among Depression and Anxiety Patients?
Key takeaways:
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group of people using telemedicine for depression and/or anxiety has diversified.
Telemedicine offers a range of services for depression and/or anxiety management.
Many people feel that depression and/or anxiety treatment with telemedicine is comparable to that of traditional, in-person care.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made getting healthcare, especially mental health care, challenging. For people with depression and/or anxiety, stay-at-home orders and closures of in-person mental health therapy can exacerbate mental health symptoms. However, there may be a silver lining: The rise of telemedicine, likely driven by COVID-19, may have opened doors to care for people struggling with mental health issues related to the pandemic.
Telemedicine offers one potential way to get treatment when in-person visits are inconvenient or not possible. In fact, according to a scientific review, telemedicine for mental health therapy is feasible, acceptable by patients, and effective. Patients can use telemedicine to get a new prescription or change prescriptions for depression/anxiety medications; they can also use it for mental health therapy — both individual and group-level.
GoodRx surveyed over 1,000 people living with depression and/or anxiety to understand the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed telemedicine use for these conditions. Here’s what we found.
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Increase in telemedicine use during the pandemic
Due to many states’ lockdown measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many people have been unable to access usual sources of care — including mental health therapy, support groups, and/or visits to a doctor or clinic. As such, many have turned to telemedicine.
Of all 1,042 survey participants, about half reported using telemedicine either before the COVID-19 pandemic or since the pandemic began. The other half had never used telemedicine.
A closer look reveals that during the pandemic, there have been significant increases in telemedicine use by certain groups based on age and income.
Telemedicine use by age
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, those 35 to 49 years old were the largest group using telemedicine to treat depression and/or anxiety. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, however, the age distribution has become more varied, with similar percentages now seen among those aged 18 to 25 years old, 35 to 49 years old, and 50 to 64 years old.
The largest percentage increase came from the 65+ age group, which tripled its share — though it is still the smallest percentage at just under 10%.
Telemedicine use by income
The distribution of income levels among people using telemedicine to manage depression and/or anxiety has also broadened since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Prior to the pandemic, most using telemedicine to manage depression and/or anxiety were of a higher income; but the group that began using telemedicine since the start of the pandemic has been of a lower relative income.
Telemedicine can actually be a more affordable way to receive healthcare, and the COVID-19 pandemic may have put a spotlight on this.
Telemedicine services for mental health are expansive
The group of people who reported using telemedicine for management of depression and/or anxiety used it in various forms: getting or altering a prescription, receiving individual therapy, attending group therapy sessions, and using tech-based applications.
The most popular use of telemedicine was for prescription management. In fact, nearly 50% of respondents reported that they had used telemedicine to get or change a prescription. The next most frequent use of telemedicine was for online therapy.
Many feel that telemedicine is comparable to traditional care
Finally, many respondents who used telemedicine for depression and/or anxiety treatment felt that it was comparable to traditional, in-person care. Over half of the respondents agreed that telemedicine was just as effective as in-person visits for treating depression and/or anxiety.
In contrast, one-quarter of the respondents disagreed, suggesting that telemedicine is not a full substitution for in-person care.
Summing it all up
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered most of our normal routines; for people living with depression and/or anxiety, the pandemic has been especially detrimental. However, one bright spot of the pandemic is the role that telemedicine has played in providing a means of mental health treatment.
The telemedicine industry as a whole can, and should, do more to raise awareness of its benefits among the large group of people living with depression and/or anxiety and other mental health conditions.
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