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. 2021 Jul 31;57(8):793.
doi: 10.3390/medicina57080793.

A Systematic Review on TeleMental Health in Youth Mental Health: Focus on Anxiety, Depression and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Laura Orsolini  1 , Simone Pompili  1 , Virginio Salvi  1 , Umberto Volpe  1
Affiliations

A Systematic Review on TeleMental Health in Youth Mental Health: Focus on Anxiety, Depression and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Laura Orsolini et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The Internet is widely used and disseminated amongst youngsters and many web-based applications may serve to improve mental health care access, particularly in remote and distant sites or in settings where there is a shortage of mental health practitioners. However, in recent years, specific digital psychiatry interventions have been developed and implemented for special populations such as children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: Hereby, we describe the current state-of-the-art in the field of TMH application for young mental health, focusing on recent studies concerning anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and affective disorders. Results: After screening and selection process, a total of 56 studies focusing on TMH applied to youth depression (n = 29), to only youth anxiety (n = 12) or mixed youth anxiety/depression (n = 7) and youth OCD (n = 8) were selected and retrieved. Conclusions: Telemental Health (TMH; i.e., the use of telecommunications and information technology to provide access to mental health assessment, diagnosis, intervention, consultation, supervision across distance) may offer an effective and efficacious tool to overcome many of the barriers encountering in the delivery of young mental health care.

Keywords: TeleMental Health; adolescence; adolescents; affective disorders; anxiety; obsessive-compulsive disorder; telepsychiatry; youngsters; youth; youth mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be constructed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
PRISMA 2009 Flow Diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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