Telehealth and Mental Health: an approximation of telemedicine experiences in the field of Mental Health

Abstract

Introduction: Mental illnesses are increasingly considered a global priority in terms of health but also a priority for global development, currently mental, neurological and substance use disorders represent a great burden of disease and disability, still existing a wide gap between the capacity of health systems and the resources available, on the other hand the development of information and communication technologies, constitute an opportunity for the management of medical care processes and the administration and care of patients . In this context, PAHO explicitly aims to contribute to the sustainable development of health systems seeking to improve access to health services and their quality, through the use of information and communications technologies (ICT), training in digital literacy, access to information based on scientific evidence and continuing education, including telehealth and telemedicine in this plan, such as health services, especially where distance is a barrier to receiving health care. This article aims to conduct a bibliographic review of telemedicine experiences in the field of mental health and a search and compilation of scientific material related to telemedicine and mental health. Method: A review of selected bibliographic material was carried out through the search on digital platforms such as Medline, Lilacs and SciELO and other official platforms, from which the articles of relevance for the review were selected. Within the search criteria, articles in Spanish and English were selected. The search terms were: Telemedicine, Telepsychiatry, Telepsychology, Mental health, occupational therapy, social work, nursing.