What is the Real Cost of Therapy?

Everyone knows that therapy can be one of the best ways to grapple with mental health issues. In fact, one of the most common suggestions people have when they see someone suffering from mental illness, trauma, or similar conditions is to see a therapist.

Data backs up therapy's success record pretty well, too. Cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy, talk therapy, and music therapy have all been proven to have noticeable results for a variety of mental illnesses — as well as otherwisehard-to-treat issues such as personality disorders.

While it's obvious that quality therapy may be priceless to those who benefit from it, most people don't realize what is the real cost of therapy until they actually see the doctor's bills themselves. Did you ever wonder how much therapy really costs, or why it's so expensive? You're not alone.

Here's the truth behind the prices of therapy nationwide, and why so many people are struggling to find access that's affordable to them.

What is the real cost of therapy, in terms of what patients have to pay?

Depending on how much money you make, what your current situation is, and where you go, therapy can cost you anywhere from nothing out of pocket to upwards of $300 per hour.

Schools, certain nonprofits and certain welfare programs are able to offer free talk therapy to those who are in need of it but can't often afford. However, these options don't always exist everywhere, so not everyone who is low income can afford therapy.

Online therapy sessions can be as low as $32 per week through an online practice like Maven. These kinds of sessions have been proven to be as effective as standard, in-office therapy.

For in-office therapy that involves the stereotypical couch and guy with a notebook, most areas in the United States will have people paying $75 to $150 per hour. In major metropolitan areas, that number rises to $200 to $300.

Most insurance plans do not cover therapy and those that do tend to vary greatly. As a result, we can't tell you what the real cost of therapy is for those who are well-insured since it's so varied.

But, what is the real cost of therapy to therapists trying to run their own practice?

As you can imagine, charging that high a price for your service often means that there's a high startup cost — or a small market. Believe it or not, the cost that they charge to patients is actually very reasonable considering the costs therapists have to recover during their workdays.

One of the biggest costs that therapists have to incur is the certification and education to make them legally able to provide service as a therapist. In most states, this means that they will need board certification, a Master's degree in psychology, and a slew of other qualifications that all cost money.

Most therapists have a Psy.D, which in turn can easily cost $200,000 to obtain when undergraduate and Master's programs are included. If they studied to become a psychiatrist in order to become a therapist at their job, that means that their total bill would come to $300,000 or more due to the rising cost of medical school.

Annually, most therapists also have to pay about $1,000 in fees in order to keep their certifications, too. In order for a therapist to recover the cost of actually being qualified to do the job, they will have to have a higher pay grade than most other people.

Another major cost to therapists would be business insurance. Typically, that will be another several hundred dollars per month if they choose to run their own practice. This is due to the potential risk of a mentally ill person harming property if therapy goes awry, as well as the risk of malpractice lawsuits from patients.

Along with insurance and certifications, therapists also have to recover the cost of renting the office they practice in, the supplies they use to provide therapy, and the money lost when a client cancels.

When you take into account all the losses, costs, and certifications required to keep up therapy costs, it's easy to see what is the real cost of therapy — at least, to those who run practices and the therapists themselves.

At the very least, starting up your own therapy practice could cost upwards of $250,000 if you include credentials, insurance, and rent prices for a single year. That's a quarter of a million dollars that they have to recover, and that's the main reason prices are high.

But, that's not what is the real cost of therapy to therapists on a whole. Therapists often need mental health help, too.

When most people ask, "What is the true cost of therapy?", they don't actually think about the emotional cost of providing therapy. However, you do have to take this into account if you want to see the full picture of therapy's rising costs.

Therapists see a lot of terrible things in their offices, and hear a lot of stories from clients that would shake any normal human being to the core. That's why many people go to therapy; to let that side out so they can talk about it.

Seeing and hearing all the problems everyone else faces is taxing, especially when you take into account the fact that they are expected to be stone-faced when they witness it all. This isn't an easy task to do, and it also can wear down on them.

Therapists are human, after all, and that means that many therapists end up needing therapy for themselves. (Yes, that can probably be awkward.) So, therapists also need to take their own mental health care costs into consideration.

What is the real cost of therapy, in terms of supply and demand?

Here's what many people don't realize about therapy: many, many different people need it. In many parts of the country, there simply aren't enough therapists to go around.

Business economics principles still will apply with services like mental health therapy. So, if there's way fewer doctors than there needs to be, then prices will increase; it turns into a seller's market.

For people who live in these areas, it's very likely that they may see therapy prices skyrocket. The only time that this isn't the case is if therapy prices are subsidized by local hospitals, charities, and government groups.

Between insurance, nonprofits, subsidies, and other similar cost-alleviating options, it's possible that we may (thankfully) never know what is the real cost of therapy without financial aid keeping prices low.

Currently, there are only a couple of ways to reduce the cost of therapy.

The price of therapy is high, yes, but it's not totally unaffordable. That doesn't mean, though that we should overlook what is the real cost of therapy being too overpriced to afford in certain communities.

Without therapy, many people end up suffering from serious mental illness problems that can manifest themselves in a number of ugly ways. If people are given the opportunity to get therapy, they can live better, longer, and happier lives.

Currently, there are three options that could allow for the decrease in therapy costs:

1. Government subsidies and more nonprofit donations. If our government or nonaffiliated nonprofits were to step in and offer subsidies for therapists, the price to consumers and insurance companies would decrease. This would work well for everyone involved.
2. School subsidies. Subsidies that would make medical school and psychology degrees lower cost would dramatically reduce the amount therapists would have to be paid in order to make ends meet — and also would increase the number of therapists available.
3. Decreased standards for therapist certification. This is not advisable, since decreased standards may mean decreased quality of care. However, lower standards would mean lower costs, and that would be viable in some cases.

When you consider what is the real cost of therapy not being used by people who need it, it's clear that something has to be done to make it more available. But, until we actually do something about it, prices will remain high.