My Teen Tried Doctor on Demand’s Psychiatry Services—and Had a Great Experience

When my 15-year-old came to me and said he wanted to look into medication for his increasing anxiety, I was so happy that he felt comfortable opening up to me and asking for help. Most teens, mine included, are not known for being particularly forthcoming about their emotional lives. When I told my husband about it later that day, we agreed that we both wished we’d had the words and wherewithal to ask our parents for help with our mental health at that age. Being a teenager has always been hard, but COVID-19, cell phones, social media, school shootings, climate change, and other trappings of modern life have made it even harder. Approximately 32% of kids aged 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder.

My son was interested in speaking to our family doctor, but I persuaded him to try out a virtual psychiatrist by explaining that our family doctor would likely refer us to a psychiatrist anyway. Besides, these professionals are better trained to handle mental health diagnoses and medications because of their education and specialized expertise. He reluctantly agreed, despite his anxiety being largely social. Talking with strangers, even medical providers, is tantamount to exposure therapy for social anxiety. He was very anxious about doing a therapy session via video, but he understood that it was necessary to receive medication. 

I do a lot of research into online mental health services as a health editor and Doctor on Demand stood out to me. In addition to providing both psychiatry and psychotherapy, it offers virtual urgent care and preventative health services, is available to people of all ages in all 50 states and Washington D.C., and accepts most major insurance plans. High-quality child/adolescent psychiatrists who accept insurance and have readily available appointments are incredibly difficult to find. Patients can languish on waiting lists for weeks, even months. I appreciated that Doctor on Demand asserts that 52% of its therapists treat patients under 18; this reassured me that its providers would be knowledgeable and experienced in treating kids’ mental health. 

We’ve tried Doctor on Demand for a month, and overall, we’ve had a fantastic experience. The providers are punctual and compassionate, and the available appointment slots were surprisingly plentiful, especially given that we were scheduling adolescent psychiatry visits. Here’s more about our experience with Doctor on Demand.

How I Signed Up

I found the Doctor on Demand website refreshingly clean, professional, and easy to navigate. The homepage lists common complaints it treats under the categories “Prescriptions,” “Cold & flu,” “Sexual health,” “Skin & hair,” and “Mental health,” or I could click “view all conditions” to be sent to a page providing a more comprehensive list of what Doctor on Demand can help with. 

I really appreciated that Doctor on Demand highlights its provider diversity and expertise on its main page, noting that its doctors have an average of 15 or more years of experience and that “11% of our team identifies as LGBTQ+, 34% of our team are BIPOC, and 78% of our team identifies as female.” 

The service was incredibly easy to sign up for, as was adding dependents to my account.  I signed up via the big blue “register” button on the website. I created an account with an email address and personal details like my address and insurance information (although you don’t have to have insurance to sign up for service). While I could not find a list of the ages eligible for mental health treatment on the site, it appears that even my youngest child, age 7, could use both the therapy and psychiatry/medication management services at Doctor on Demand if needed. Customer service clarified that Doctor on Demand has mental health providers who see children from ages 1 to 18, so long as a parent/guardian is present for the appointment. (Only adults can create an account on Doctor on Demand.)  

After going through the sign-up process, I had access to a portal where I could add dependents, see my health history or visit summaries, coordinate care with outside providers, message customer support, or make appointments.

The most irksome thing I found about the portal is that to add dependents, you have to request an appointment, then, when it asks you to select who the visit is for, you choose “add dependent.” Whenever I reached out to customer service, I received responses within a few hours.

I loved how transparent Doctor on Demand was about pricing. I found prices for each type of care under the “About Us” menu.

While I was a bit annoyed that I had to add insurance info separately for each family member I added, I was happy to see my copay would be $0 for nearly all services via UnitedHealthcare.

The mental health providers at Doctor on Demand are psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), licensed addiction counselors (LACs), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs), and licensed professional counselors (LPCs).

However, when requesting adolescent psychiatry appointments, we were only shown psychiatrists. I really appreciated that we would be seeing someone with the best possible qualification for our situation rather than a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant (who are allowed to prescribe medications but do not receive as much specialized training in medicine, psychiatry, and psychopharmacology as psychiatrists).

Setting My Son Up With an Initial Appointment

To make a mental health appointment, I could either click “schedule an appointment” or “take an assessment.”

Later, I noticed these assessments were labeled for use by people 18 and older. Still, our provider never mentioned that he shouldn’t have completed it and she seemed to be referencing his answers in the session, so it was a useful exercise.

The assessment is essentially an anxiety and depression screening test, asking about how often in the past two weeks you’ve felt annoyed, unable to stop worrying, or disinterested in activities you normally like, for instance. My son’s results indeed indicated that he likely had an anxiety disorder.

We got to indicate which conditions we’d like a provider to specialize in and were given a list of a few providers to choose from who had upcoming appointments. I appreciated that I saw the company’s purported diversity reflected in my provider options; they included a Black doctor and a female doctor.

I had my son read the provider profiles and choose which one he felt would be the best fit. He said either one sounded fine so I chose for him. 

Had he been interested, my son could’ve been seen the next day, because there were open slots that soon.

He wanted some time to prepare, so we chose an opening a few days away. Because I work from home and he was off school for the summer, we had a good amount of availability. However, had our schedules been more constrained that wouldn’t have been an issue since there were plenty of visit times to choose from between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. on both weekdays and weekends. 

How Our Therapy Sessions Worked

All technical aspects of the appointment went smoothly. We logged in a few minutes early to ensure the platform had permission to access our computer’s video and audio. There were no sound or video glitches during the appointment.

My son wasn’t looking forward to having a video interaction with a stranger, but I told him that psychiatrists typically are not allowed to prescribe medication to people without seeing them in person or via video. All psychiatry appointments at Doctor on Demand are done via video. Initial intake sessions can go as long as 45 minutes, and follow-ups are 15 minutes long. Our initial appointment only lasted about 30 minutes because neither my son nor I are big talkers, but we definitely felt we were given plenty of time to have our concerns heard.

They said if at any point they felt my son would be better in the hands of a more specialized provider, they would let us know. I really liked this level of transparency. Since my son is a teen, I didn’t think it would be an issue. Had I been looking for care for my 7-year-old, I might’ve felt differently. 

Our provider confirmed my son’s date of birth and state of residence, then asked us to confirm our desire for psychiatry/medication rather than talk therapy. Next, they had me step out of the room so they could talk to my son alone. 

A few minutes later, my son came to get me to rejoin the session and discuss next steps. I offered information about my own diagnoses of anxiety and depression and some other relevant mental health diagnoses in our family tree. The provider then asked me which medication I was on, if any, and if I felt it was a good fit for me.

The provider noted that my medication was recently approved for teens and recommended starting my son on a half dose to begin with. They laid out all potential side effects, from things like nausea and tiredness that should go away after a few weeks, to more serious reactions to look out for, such as suicidal thoughts. Finally, they confirmed the address of our local pharmacy of choice.

Once the session ended, we were prompted to rate our provider as well as the likelihood that we’d recommend Doctor on Demand to a friend (both optional). One feature I really appreciated was that our provider’s schedule automatically popped up so we could arrange our follow-up appointment right then and there. 

Our follow-up sessions have been like a shorter version of our initial appointment: Our provider logs in and asks how things are going, then asks me to leave so they can speak with my son alone. He comes to get me a few minutes later when they are finished. The provider then asks me about my son’s mood and behavior since our last visit. Have I noticed any changes?

In addition to gauging his progress, our provider also discusses side effects and dosage with both of us. Our first two follow-ups have been every two weeks, but we have now moved to a monthly check-in schedule. We always feel like we have plenty of time and that our provider isn’t rushing us through the appointments.

Switching Providers

If we needed to switch providers, we would’ve had to start over; that is, schedule another 45-minute intake session with the new provider. That seemed odd to me, but I understand that a new provider would want to do a full assessment of our case. Since we liked our provider, this wasn’t an issue for us. 

Another odd thing is that the psychiatrist seems to now be linked to me: when I went in to see how many psychiatrists were available in our area for adult patients, it told me that if I scheduled with someone else we would lose our connection with our original psychiatrist. Luckily, the same thing doesn’t happen with therapists (when I did a test search for therapists for my son, it did not link him to the therapist I am currently seeing on the site). 

Pros and Cons

While our experience with our Doctor on Demand psychiatrist was overwhelmingly positive, there are always good and bad things to consider about any online therapy or psychiatry company.

Final Thoughts

I’d definitely recommend Doctor on Demand to anyone looking for an online psychiatry service for their child. Appointments are psychiatrist-driven but patient-centric. One big thing that stood out to me was our provider’s interest in the mental health and medications of my son’s family members, and how they used that information to help shape their course of action in developing a diagnosis and prescription plan for him.

Our provider was a great listener and very understanding. They were clearly knowledgeable about child psychiatry, in my opinion, despite their stated lack of specific specialization. Given the many appointment slots available, easy sign-up, expert providers, and insurance acceptance, Doctor on Demand lived up to its mission to provide quick, affordable access to high-quality care.