The Best Online Therapy for Anxiety in 2022
Updated 2 years ago on November 23, 2022
Pros:
- Accepts several insurance plans
- Medications available through Talkspace Psychiatry
- Individual, couples, and teen consultations available
Cons:
- You have to pay extra for live video sessions
- Can be pricey if you only need a few sessions.
Session types Text, video and voice messages; live video
Cost and payment options Prices vary and depend on geography, but typically start at $79 per week for message therapy, $109 per week for live therapy, and $139 per week for a combination of live therapy plus message therapy, billed monthly; Talkspace Psychiatry costs $249 for the first session and $125 for subsequent sessions.
Prescribes medication Yes, through Talkspace Psychiatry
Accepts insurance Yes
If you're looking for a comprehensive online counseling platform that offers mental health and mental health services to individuals, couples and teens ages 13 to 17 suffering from anxiety, Talkspace might be worth considering.
Talkspace employs licensed therapists and counselors with expertise in areas such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, mood disorders and more. Because Talkspace requires providers to have at least a master's degree and at least 3,000 hours of clinical experience, you will have access to highly qualified mental health professionals.
The platform is also home to Talkspace Psychiatry, which provides online mental health services and medication management for adults. This feature sets Talkspace apart from competitors that don't prescribe medication. It can be costly if you need both medication management in a Psychiatry plan and counseling in a Therapy plan. However, this approach can be helpful for people with anxiety because anxiety symptoms often lend themselves well to a combination of psychotherapy and medication, according to a meta-analysis of studies published in the journal World Psychiatry.
Talkspace is one of the few online anxiety therapy platforms that accepts insurance, which can help you deal with the costs. According to an April 2022 survey conducted by our panel of experts among 1,000 online therapy users, nearly 39 percent of those surveyed said they chose the platform primarily because it accepts their insurance.
Talkspace offers several options for meeting with a therapist, including "messaging only" and "messaging + live session" subscriptions. This is an important detail to consider when choosing an online anxiety therapy platform. A "messaging only" plan means no video or phone sessions with a live therapist. Instead, patients only have access to the therapist through messaging in a virtual therapy room. This option is not conducive to immediate feedback, as you have to wait for the therapist to respond, although they promise to respond five days a week, according to an email we received from a customer service representative. You can upgrade to other plans that include video and audio messaging, but that also increases the cost.
Unlike other platforms that are open and transparent about prices, Talkspace requires you to fill out a questionnaire to get accurate prices for their packages. This can be frustrating if you are in the research phase and just want to quickly scan each site. Nevertheless, we've put together some general pricing information to help you better understand how much their programs cost:
- Messaging therapy Text, video, and audio messaging; cost from $69 per week or $276 per month
- Live therapy Four 45-minute live therapy sessions per month; price from $99 per week or $396 per month
- Live Message Therapy Plus Text, video and audio messages; four sessions of 45 minutes per month; price from $129 per week or $516 per month
- Therapy for teens (ages 13 to 17) Text, audio and video only (no live sessions); $260 per month
- Psychiatrist sessions $249 for the first consultation and $125 for all follow-up appointments
Despite the fact that the homepage says the company has more than 60,000 five-star reviews, Talkspace has a customer review rating of just 1.09 out of 5 stars on the BBB and 1.3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. Common complaints include billing problems and poor customer service.
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