Children and adolescents from families with higher incomes, private insurance and who live in urban areas are more likely to receive telehealth psychotherapy, new research has found.
A study published Jan. 14 in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that in 2021, around 5% of U.S. children received any telehealth mental health services, while 8% received in-person care.
The use of video telehealth was significantly lower among children whose family incomes were below 200% of the federal poverty level, the study found. White, non-Hispanic children were also more likely to receive video telehealth care than Black and Hispanic children.
The rates of adults receiving psychotherapy have risen sharply in the past 30 years, according to The New York Times. In 1997, around 4% of U.S. adults received psychotherapy. In 2021, this percentage was 8.5%.
Telehealth has contributed to the rise, but not everyone has benefited, Mark Olfson, MD, an author of the study and a professor of psychiatry at New York City-based Columbia University, told the Times.
A study published in December in JAMA Psychiatry found similar trends to those among children among adults. Younger adults, those with higher incomes and those with higher levels of education were most likely to receive therapy through telehealth.
The findings point to a trend that the entire mental healthcare system may be moving away from those with the greatest need, Dr. Olfson said.
"We're seeing that those with the greatest distress are losing ground, in terms of their likelihood of being treated, and that to me is a very important and disconcerting trend," Dr. Olfson told the Times.