Psychotherapy does cost a lot even when your insurance pays part of the fee. That means you’ll need to plan your budget to include your part of the fee. Can you save money by coming less often?

That might seem like a good idea but in fact it turns out not to be. The research is clear. The more frequently you have therapy sessions the more effective the therapy is. Think of it this way. How much progress do you think you would make if you had one psychotherapy session every six months? Not very much even if each session was particularly powerful. What about every six weeks. That is a model used by some mental health clinics because they are trying to serve a high volume of patients. Every six weeks would be better than every six months but that would be barely sufficient to maintain you where you are now. How often should we meet? Once a weeks seems to be the usual model.

What I find is that you get the best value for your money by meeting at least once a week. If we meet less frequently than that the long term expense greatly increases, perhaps more than doubles, for reaching the same goals. If we meet twice a week not only do you reach those goals in less time but at a considerable overall savings.

I am mindful of you as a whole person including your mental health, your physical health, and your financial health. For that reason I do not see psychotherapy patients less often than once a week until we are winding down.