Resisting and promoting new technologies in clinical practice: the case oftelepsychiatry

New telecommunications technologies promise to profoundly change the spatia l and temporal relationship between health professional and patient. This p aper reports results from an ethnographic study of the introduction of a vi deophone or 'telemedicine' system intended to facilitate faster and more co nvenient referral of patients with anxiety and depression in primary care, to a community mental health team. We explore the reasons for contest over the telemedicine system in practice, contrasting professionals' critique of the technology in play with a more fundamental problem: the extent to whic h the telecommunications system threatened deeply embedded professional con structs about the nature and practice of therapeutic relationships. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.