The Telepsychiatry Advantage | Podcast Guru

Details

The Telepsychiatry Advantage is a podcast for clinicians who want a clear, practical understanding of how telepsychiatry actually works. As more care moves online, the show breaks down the real considerations behind it—who it works for, where it doesn’t, how to handle risk, what regulations matter, and how to deliver care effectively through a screen. Each episode focuses on what you need to know to make better decisions and avoid common mistakes in a rapidly changing environment. Your host is Dr. Edward Kaftarian, the founder of Orbit Health, the longest-running telepsychiatry company in the world. He received his psychiatry training at the renowned Johns Hopkins University and holds board certifications in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine.

Recent Episodes

Lost In Translation: How Culture Shapes Mental Health In Telepsychiatry

A patient can look guarded, flat, evasive, overly agreeable, or even “fine” — and none of those things necessarily mean what you think they mean. Culture can shape how people describe depression, anxiety, trauma, psychosis, medication concerns, family involvement, eye contact, silence, and even physical symptoms. And if a psychiatrist reads all of that through only their own cultural lens, it is easy to miss what is actually happening. In this episode of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, Dr. Edwa...

36 MIN

Can Forensic Psychiatry Really Be Done Over Video?

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 cour...

36 MIN

The Bumpy History of Telepsychiatry (Before The Internet)

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 availabl...

26 MIN

Substance Use Disorders In Telepsychiatry: How To Treat Patients (Part 2)

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 Advan...

32 MIN

Substance Use Disorders In Telepsychiatry: How To Assess Risk (Part 1)

Drug overdoses have killed more Americans than every major U.S. war combined That is the scale of the substance use crisis in this country. And for many of the patients most affected — people in rural areas, people with unstable housing, people without reliable transportation, and people who already struggle to access care — telepsychiatry may be one of the most important ways to help them. But assessing substance use disorders through a screen comes with challenges. A patient may appea...

33 MIN