Can forensic psychiatry really be done remotely?

In recent years, courts and clinicians have had to grapple with that question as more psychiatric evaluations, depositions, and expert testimony moves online.

In this episode of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, Dr. Edward Kaftarian draws on his own experience as a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness to explain what actually changes when the work happens remotely — and what absolutely cannot. From malingering and competency evaluations to courtroom testimony and technical failures, he breaks down where video works, where it creates new risks, and when showing up in person still matters.

For more information about Orbit Health, visit us at:
https://www.orbithealth.com/

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the podcast are Dr. Kaftarian's personal opinions regarding best practices and are not intended to establish or represent the standard of care. It remains the responsibility of each listener to ensure compliance with all applicable standards of care, laws, regulations, and professional requirements.

Telepsychiatry did NOT start during the pandemic. Heck, it didn’t even start with the internet.

Actually, remote medicine is more than a hundred years old, and modern telepsychiatry dates back to the 1960s.

The reason people have kept pushing telemedicine forward is the same reason it still matters today: geography can stand between a patient and the care they need. Someone in a rural community may live hours from the right specialist. A hospital may need expertise that simply is not available nearby. Remote care became a way to close that distance instead of asking patients to go without.

In this episode of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, Dr. Edward Kaftarian traces back the history of telemedicine: doctors using telegraphs and telephones to reach patients from a distance, the first psychiatric video programs in Nebraska, early hospital experiments, and the decades of technological breakthroughs that eventually made virtual care mainstream.

Dr. Kaftarian walks through how we got here, why telepsychiatry took so long to catch on, and why the original promise of remote care still matters today.

For more information about Orbit Health, visit us at:
https://www.orbithealth.com/

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the podcast are Dr. Kaftarian's personal opinions regarding best practices and are not intended to establish or represent the standard of care. It remains the responsibility of each listener to ensure compliance with all applicable standards of care, laws, regulations, and professional requirements.

Treating substance use disorders through telepsychiatry is not just a matter of moving the same office visit onto a screen.

These patients may be dealing with cravings, withdrawal, relapse, shame, unstable housing, limited transportation, or a recovery environment that makes treatment harder to sustain. So the question is not just what medication or therapy might help. It is how clinicians can keep patients engaged long enough for treatment to work.

In this episode of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, Dr. Edward Kaftarian breaks down how clinicians can treat substance use disorders through telepsychiatry. Opioid use disorder, alcohol, nicotine, stimulants, cannabis, benzodiazepines — he covers it all in this episode.

This is Part 2 of the substance use disorder series. Part 1 focused on assessment. This episode focuses on treatment — what to do next, how to keep patients connected, and even when telepsychiatry needs support from in-person resources.

For more information about Orbit Health, visit us at:
https://www.orbithealth.com/

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the podcast are Dr. Kaftarian's personal opinions regarding best practices and are not intended to establish or represent the standard of care. It remains the responsibility of each listener to ensure compliance with all applicable standards of care, laws, regulations, and professional requirements.