In today’s society, people face a fast-paced life and heavy pressure, finding ways to relax and alleviate stress is particularly important. However, not everyone can rejuvenate physically and mentally through self-regulation, and there are times when it becomes necessary to seek professional help from a psychiatrist. But due to the long-standing stigmatization of mental illness, many people have biases against visiting psychiatrists, such as believing in the severe side effects of medication or that treatment is a waste of money, and thus resist getting treated.
Failure to receive timely standardized treatment can lead to serious consequences, even the loss of life. Therefore, if you encounter similar difficulties, it is imperative to prioritize contact with a professional psychiatrist to assess your situation, determine whether you need medical attention, and decide next steps.
The internet provides a convenient way to easily book a doctor’s appointment for an online consultation, such as immediate communication with the doctor via text messages. When seeking medical advice online, remember to provide clear diagnostic information, such as outpatient medical records or diagnostic proof, so that the doctor can accurately judge your condition.
In the following common situations, you can choose to consult a psychiatrist online:
- Emotional issues: If you have recently experienced insomnia, anxiety, depression, or other psychological conditions, especially if you are unsure whether professional intervention is required, you can contact experienced doctors online for assessment and treatment advice.
- Changes in condition: For those who have been treated before but recently feel a change in condition or worry about a relapse, online consultations can provide professional medical advice, including whether to adjust medications or take other measures.
- Caring for others: If you notice abnormal behavior in those around you, such as a sudden drop in a child’s academic performance or a previously outgoing family member being recently downhearted, or even a family member suffering from postnatal depression, online consultations can provide advice on how to communicate properly with and respond to those with mental illnesses.
Without the need to travel, online consultations can save your time and energy, and allow doctors to provide feedback quickly, greatly improving the efficiency and convenience of the treatment process.
When feeling psychologically uncomfortable, in-depth communication with a psychologist can effectively relieve mental stress. At the same time, under the doctor’s guidance, it can help clarify problems and set goals. The development of modern technology has provided us with various ways to communicate with doctors, especially for mental and psychological issues, and phone consultations are a good choice.
Phone consultations offer the following advantages:
- Simulating offline communication: Phone consultations can simulate the experience of face-to-face communication, allowing one-on-one exchanges with the doctor, to answer personalized questions, and to ask for clarifications on any unclear points, with the duration up to 15 minutes.
- Confidant-like consultation: If you prefer not to communicate face-to-face, phone consultations can be a psychological confidant, where you can easily share your problems and receive professional advice and guidance without facing others, thus ensuring privacy and security.
- Avoiding on-site queuing and cross-infection: Online consultations allow for quick responses, avoiding the hassle of queuing on-site and the additional health risks that may entail, especially suitable for those physically unwell.
- Follow-up service after consultation: After the consultation, patients can listen to the playback recording to review the conversation and obtain a text summary provided by the doctor, which includes key points and necessary explanations of professional terms.
How to schedule a telephone consultation:
- Open the professional health platform applet and select the “Ask the Doctor” section.
- Choose a suitable doctor for consultation.
- Select the service type for telephone consultation.
- Schedule a convenient time for the consultation.
- Fill in contact information and a description of the problem, and upload any relevant medical documents.
- After completing payment, be prepared to speak with the doctor at the scheduled time.
The duration of a telephone consultation is 15 minutes, allowing the doctor to understand the condition more deeply and provide detailed treatment plans and nursing advice.
If you prefer text communication, you can also choose graphic consultation. The specific steps include:
- Prepare consultation materials, organizing symptoms, medical history, etc.
- Select a suitable doctor for graphic consultation.
Graphic consultation is an efficient and private online medical service mode, suitable for users who prefer text communication.
Although online consultations can quickly address some minor health issues and provide convenient medical advice, if you experience persistent symptoms without improvement, or need further examination for a diagnosis, please be sure to visit a hospital in person to avoid impacting your health due to delayed diagnosis and treatment.
Common questions and answers about consultation:
- Undergoing consultation: You can search for and enter the Dingxiang Doctor applet, and click on “Ask the Doctor” on the homepage to have the opportunity to communicate with the doctor online.
- Number of consultations: One consultation allows for three opportunities to ask questions (including one main inquiry and two follow-up questions). You can ask multiple questions in each inquiry (up to 500 words) and support uploading videos or images (such as examination reports, pictures of medications, etc. that can be photographed) — all these contents will remain valid for 24 hours.
- Viewing responses: If you have an ongoing consultation, you can directly click on “Mine” at the bottom of the Dingxiang Doctor applet and then select “My Consultations” to receive the doctor’s replies instantly.
- Customer service: For more questions or services requiring human intervention, you can click on “Mine” in the applet and then select “Online Customer Service” to get help.
