“I feel better. The medicine I was prescribed works great. The website still needs some work. I am unable to view messages from my provider and I am unable to send messages or questions during the process that isn't involving "check ins". Its a lot of money a month and I thought I'd have more access to my doctor. All in all, I feel less depressed and I'm getting my life back. The extra stuff is just extra”
“It is very impersonable and hard... I like my doctor but I’ve had no change in how I feel, and am feeling pretty sad. Wish there was a way to redo your check ins too it seems like once you put it through it won’t let you change it. Like the anxiety tab hasn’t let me redo that in weeks. Overall I like it in that at least it’s better than nothing.”
“Not the most open communication with doctor somewhat predetermined algorithm for meds you might not want. Easy to start medication without having to schedule psych appointments months in advance. Great friendly doctor seems to genuinely care about my mental well being. I'm not sure I'm at a point of trust with technology that I want to let algorithms decide what meds I need instead of the doctor talking to me about what I believe might be best. First prescription took a fairly long time to receive but the refills are early and easy, even though they all come in separate packages on different days.
Also-when I get a check up email survey there's an animation of a graph that's going downwards. I would feel that I'm trying to work my way up from the low point of my depression and not vise versa. Would make a lot more sense to reverse the animation direction”
Thanks for your feedback, Dmytro. We take it seriously and are committed to everyone having a great experience on Brightside. Just to clarify, our algorithm evaluates your information relative to evidence and makes a suggestion to the doctor as to what medication is likely to work best for you. Your doctor than considers that along with other things they may learn about you in your consultation, to determine your treatment plan. The doctor is still the expert here, but the algorithm helps them understand what the evidence suggests.
When we treat depression and anxiety, we're really looking at reducing elevated symptoms associated with these conditions. The standard measures generally go up from 0 for low symptoms to 21 (anxiety) or 27 (depression) for high symptoms. So, in this case going down means reducing symptoms and making positive progress. We'll check in and make sure that's clear in the email.
Best wishes on your path and please let us know if there is anything else we can do to be helpful.
“I wish I had an easier time contacting my doctor without using forms exclusively. He changed my dosage and im having trouble navigating to get ahold of him for an early refill.”
“I’m thankful for the access this has provided me to be able to seek help medically. I am still in my first prescription so it’s hard for me to tell if it’s helping, but I think it is. My doctor has been helpful, but I feel like I need to be able to talk about my problems in longer sessions. There’s a lot I need to talk to someone about that I just am unable to in my life, and having someone to discuss concerns with would really make me feel less crazy.”
Thanks for your feedback, Karley. It's of course a great idea to find someone to talk to in longer sessions about what's going on in your life - this can be an important part of working through things. But, whether online or in person, doctors aren't generally the right fit for this. We recommend finding a therapist to talk to and would be glad to recommend solutions online or in person that might help.
“I like my doctor and the medication she prescribed is really working for me (I've taken it before so I already knew it works for me). It bothers me that I can't communicate with her easily, when all I want to do is ask a simple text-based question or update her on my progress in a way that your automated questions aren't capable of capturing. I plan to stop using Brightside and see a doctor in person in a few months when doing so works better with my schedule. As an aside, I would be willing to pay more per month for the option to actually communicate via email or skype with a doctor, but I can see how the optics of that aren't great.”
Thanks for your feedback, Susannah. We hear you and see where you're coming from on this. We are actively working on making it easier to message with your doctor about small questions or updates. Please keep an eye out for this in the near future and we'd love to hear your feedback one you have the chance to use it.
“I like the point that I can talk with a doctor via chat which is good for me because I travel for work often, but it bothered me that I cannot reach out to them from my side. The last time I spoke to her was 2 months ago.”
