How much do mental health services cost per hour?
The simple answer is: it varies.
Cost depends on whether you are seeing a psychologist or a psychotherapist, the person’s training, where they practice, their years of experience and whether they work in a highly specialized area of psychology. Services tend to be more expensive when the provider is an expert in a highly specialized field such as high sensitivity or when they treat a challenging condition such as chronic pain.
What Is the Difference Between Psychotherapists,
Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers?
When comparing psychotherapists vs. psychologists, you’ll find that, in the U.S. and psychotherapy is an umbrella term describing professionals who provide psychotherapy—also known as talk therapy—including some types of psychologists. Clinical and counselling psychologists, for example, can both practice psychotherapy, as can therapists and counsellors with less education and clinical training.
In both Canada and the U.S. , the profession of psychotherapy is regulated by the province or state.
In short, in Québec, a psychotherapist is either:
a psychologist
a physician (such as a psychiatrist),
a professional who has obtained a psychotherapist’s permit:
a vocational guidance counsellor, criminologist, occupational therapist, nurse, psychoeducator, marriage or family therapist, social worker, or sexologist
In other words, clinical psychologists and counselling psychologists can identify as psychotherapists, but not all psychotherapists are psychologists.
Both psychotherapists and psychologists have university undergraduate training in Canada and the U.S. In Canada, psychotherapists (e.g. family and marital therapists, clinical social workers, counselling psychologists) have completed a Master (2 more years of university). In Canada, and the U.S. , research psychologists or clinical psychologists complete both a Master (2 yrs) and a Doctorate (3 + yrs) in psychology after their undergraduate degree.
So whilst a psychologist might be slightly more expensive than a counsellor or psychotherapist, they’re likely to have a much deeper understanding of how the mind works, and therefore take you to where you need to be a lot faster.
Why is it so expensive?
In order to provide good services, a psychologist needs to focus very intensely on the client, and quickly pick up on the right cues. Much like a detective, they need to know which lines of investigation to pursue, and which to discard. The wrong choice can result in wasted time and money for the client.
Becoming a Psychologist Costs a Lot of Money
Think about how expensive it is to hire a lawyer. Clients are hiring someone with years of schooling on the subject in which they invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is the same thing with a psychologst. In order to complete a doctorate in psychology, a psychology student will very frequently need to move to a large metropolitan centre to learn from the top people in their field at a prestigious university. Living costs in London, San Francisco, New York, Paris, etc. are not cheap. Graduate students are expected to pay to attend national or international conferences yearly at least. Many students will also pay to attend specialized international courses in their particular interest area, which cost thousands of dollars.
Psychologists Don’t Get Paid for Every Hour They Work
When people work a typical 40-hour week, their company pays them for every hour they work. Psychologists, on the other hand, can only bill for the time they see clients. Due to the intensity of the job, as psychologist can only work about 4 hours a day with clients, and needs to take breaks between clients. Psychologists also need to spend time reviewing the psychological literature available to help their clients, from worksheets and exercises, to research studies with the latest findings. It can take 3-5 hours to read and digest an article discussing a scientific research study in psychology. Psychologists who also conduct and publish scientific research need to take the time to do so. An average research study in psychology takes approximately 1-3 years to conduct, analyze and write up for publication. Psychologists cannot charge for time taken to organize their clients’ information, or to perform administrative duties. Finally, knowledgeable psychologists are in demand to serve as board members and expert advisers to various associations and non-profit organizations, and to speak at webinars, podcasts and conferences. They do this for free to collaborate with other professionals.
Are mental health services worth the cost?
There are very few relationships in life where we’re able to get an objective viewpoint. Having close friends is great, but friends don’t have the training to look at your situation from any viewpoint other than their own. Friends can also be hesitant to share observations that might hurt your feelings, make you angry, or otherwise affect the relationship. Psychologists are highly trained professionals. Add onto that many more years of experience working with people just like you, and you get an idea of how unique the therapeutic relationship is.
Mental health support comes with a short-term investment. But it’s an investment in your own betterment; your mental and emotional well-being.