Doctor Mike

What I meant with the BetterHelp specific analogy or question is they have...

I don't know if they have therapists, they have some kind of online virtual person that you could meet with.

And perhaps it's a different person each week.

And it's like one of these platforms where you get zoomed in to a visit.

Do you like that approach in general?

Yeah, I always think about this from a perspective in my world where there are companies where you can basically self-diagnose yourself and get a prescription for whatever you want.

And maybe I'm exaggerating when I say whatever you want, but you could say, oh, I have male pattern baldness, so I need finasteride.

I have erectile dysfunction, so I need Viagra.

And even as far as I have strep throat, so I want amoxicillin or penicillin, what have you.

Yeah.

So I like that these websites offer access to people who perhaps don't have access due to transportation barriers, cost, because they're usually a little cheaper than actually going to see a doctor in person.

That should tell you a lot.

And the fact that perhaps they can get a prescription virtually sent over to them and it's easier to get the medication and delivered, especially if traveling is difficult for them.

But at the same time, I'm like, are we hurting that alliance between doctors and patients and all the other benefits that come with a patient coming into my practice?

Because if they come in and they start asking about erectile dysfunction medications, perhaps that's an early sign of heart disease, diabetes, that we now catch a condition in its early stages where it's much more treatable or we could get the biggest impact on their life versus, oh yeah, here's some Viagra and I'm never going to check what your sugar level is.

So does that function the same in the psychological space?

What about some of these reality shows that are actually showing what therapy is like?

Couples therapies?

Yeah.

I've seen this also play out in the podcast sphere or similarly, they have this, these interviews, these sessions, and then they play clips of them.