Is BetterHelp worth it?

Is BetterHelp worth it? 

Yes Betterhelp appears to be worth it. The price range of betterhelp in comparison to traditional therapy provides significant advantages. Betterhelp also offers more flexibility and assumed privacy than traditional therapy, so yes, Betterhelp is worth it.

This article analyses BetterHelp and delivers a final verdict on whether it is generally worth it or not. This is based on an examination of various features across different domains. 

The article begins by discussing the background and board mission of the platform. It moves onto screening its legitimacy, the scope of its treatment, the qualifications of its therapists and the kinds of therapeutic interventions they use.

Then it reflects the inner workings of the platforms itself. This includes its signing up procedure and the process of finding a therapist best suited to your needs

Finally, its different pricing packages are reviewed, its useability is judged and a brief comparison with other such services is made. This is followed by enlisting its pros and cons and the final verdict. 

A summary of the review can be found in the table below: 

	BetterHelp
Feature	Nature/Type	Our Rating
Background	Psychotherapy	8/10
Legitimacy	Full	10/10
Treatment Range & Therapist Merit	Comprehensive and fully licensed therapists	9/10
Types of therapy	Multiple	8/10
Signing up	4 steps	8/10
Finding a therapist	Algorithmic questionnaire based	8/10
Pricing	Min 35USD/week	9/10
Security	SSL and 256-bit encryption	9/10
Useability	Mobile app and website	8/10
Comparison	Comparative advantages	8/10

Background

BetterHelp was founded in 2013 by a technology expert, Alon Matas. 

The reasons he established this platform were because he wanted to make therapy not just affordable, but also easily and widely accessible and at the same time, convenient. 

He was drawn into the field of psychotherapy due to personal reasons. He himself struggled with mental health related issues especially depression and the difficulty he faced in finding the right fit in terms of the type of therapy and the therapeutic interventions used to help him led him on this mission. 

This is because he believed others around him and in the wider world may not necessarily belong to a position of privilege to go through the common process of making trials and errors while finding the right help and even more so, people may not be able to afford therapy altogether.

Legitimacy 

BetterHelp is amongst the most well established, experienced and renowned e-therapy services world over. 

BetterHelp was established as early as 2013, making it one of the pioneers of online therapy. 

Moreover, it proudly employs over 12,000 fully licensed therapists and has provided help to more than one million clients as yet. 

Therapists at BetterHelp treat a range of mental health distresses such as Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, Eating Disorders and more. They use evidence based interventions such as journaling, cognitive behavioural therapy etc. 

Moreover, BetterHelp is also fully accredited by the Better Business Bureau. 

Treatment Range and Therapist Expertise 

BetterHelp treats a range of mental health illnesses. These include and are not restricted to

the following;

• Depression
• Generalized Anxiety disorder
• Obsessive Compulsive disorder
• Psychosomatic disorders
• Bipolar disorders
• Sleep disorders
• Eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa
• Chronic impulsivity
• Chronic stress
• Sexual orientation issues
• Teen therapy
• LGBTQIA related issue
• Educational issues
• Career related problems
• Financial worries
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Grief
• Loss
• Spiritual matters
• Existential worries

BetterHelp employs the best of therapists to treat this wide array of mental health problems. 

Therapists at BetterHelp are either fully licensed clinical psychologists, clinical social workers or licensed counsellors. They have been ensured to successfully complete the required examinations, training, practise and education. 

It is also made sure that they have at least 3 years and 1,000 hours of clinical practise completed prior to applying to BetterHelp. 

In addition, they comply with their relevant state and federal laws and are needed to pass the required examinations to keep their license up to date. 

Types of Therapy and Interventions

BetterHelp employs therapists who are specialists in providing different kinds of therapy. These are enlisted as follows: 

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Gestalt Therapy 
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Humanistic therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Schema-focused therapy 

Moreover, the therapist’s use scientific evidence based interventions which have been proven to be successful. 

These include Journalling, Mindfulness, Breathing techniques etc. 

Signing Up

BetterHelp allows clients to follow a fairly simple procedure to sign up for the service. This can be broken down into five short steps. 

Creating a profile 

Clients are required to provide a valid email address and create a new password in order that their profile be created. They are not necessarily required to provide their real names for privacy purposes. In that case, a nickname or alias can be used. 

Answering a Questionnaire

Upon creating a profile, clients answer a short, 3-5 minute questionnaire. This asks them basic demographic questions and others related to their mental distress and the type of therapist they are looking for who would work best for them. 

Matching with a therapist 

Based on the answers they give in the questionnaire, clients are given a set of therapists to choose from. They can also choose to manually select a therapist which is elaborated on in a later section below. 

Reviewing terms and conditions 

Clients are then directed to a page where they agree to the terms and conditions set forth by BetterHelp. 

Making payment 

Finally, they are required to choose their subscription package and make payment accordingly. This can be done via Visa, Paypal and other mainstream credit cards as well. 

Finding a therapist

As touched upon earlier, clients can either allow the algorithm based questionnaire devise a set of therapists to choose from, or choose one manually. 

The algorithm lets a client avoid putting in the time to manually browse for a therapist and clients have reviewed the feature positively. However, some have suggested that to even further reduce the time spent in trial and error, it is best to comply by the latter method. 

This is done by clicking on the ‘Find a therapist’ button at the bottom of the web page, which directs the client to a page with an additional 20 therapists to choose from. 

The client can manually surf through them and read their short ‘bio’s’. This allows them to judge who the right fit for them would be. 

Useability and member experience 

BetterHelp is an extremely user friendly platform. 

It is available to be used on any android or apple smartphone as it is available on both, the google playstore and the apple store. Moreover, people more comfortable using it on their personal computers can do so too as all the communication methods are available on the official BetterHelp website. 

Moreover, once therapy is initiated, the client is allowed multiple ways in which to keep in touch with their therapist. 

They can do so via text messaging, live chatting in a secure ‘room’ online, recorded audio and video messages and finally, also live video and audio messaging. 

Also, BetterHelp continually allows their client to switch between therapists. In addition, clients are also allowed to cancel their subscription whenever they choose to do so. They are offered to switch and try one final therapist before doing so, however it is not mandatory to accept that offer. 

Security

BetterHelp ensures complete confidentiality and security for both therapists and clients.They

do so by making all the communication between the two parties not only SSL encrypted but

also 256-bit encrypted according to banking levels.

They also adhere to HIPAA laws.

Pricing

This section discloses the general price level of these services.

Weekly Plan

This package costs 80USD per week. It includes one live session and unlimited messaging services with the therapist. However, they are typically likely to reply once every 24 hours. 

Monthly Plan

This plan costs 260USD. This amount is billed at the start of every month. As it includes four

sessions according to the information in the previous section, for 260USD, this suggests that

each session (equivalent to per week charge) costs 65USD.

This also works much the same way as the weekly package in that it also allows 4 weekly sessions and upto 24/7 messaging. 

Quarterly Plan

It requires a lump sum payment of 540USD, which equates to 45USD per week. It also works according to the same scale as the previously described packages, offering one weekly session and 24 hour messaging every day.  

Yearly Plan

This plan costs 1820USD paid annually. It is equivalent to paying 35USD per week. It also entails the same features as the other packages. 

Comparison with others

BetterHelp fares very well when compared to other therapy services. 

Firstly, compared to in-person therapy, it’s extremely affordable. This is because traditional means of therapy can cost over 150USD per session. Moreover, BetterHelp’s online form of therapy allows clients to save a lot of time, energy and costs that are otherwise incurred upon travelling for and scheduling in-person therapy appointments. 

Moreover, other e-therapy services in direct competition with BetterHelp are Talkspace, Cerebral, Amwell etc. 

BetterHelp has an edge over them in many regards.

Firstly, BetterHelp allows a free trial period to clients, whereby within the first 7 days clients can discontinue their therapy without any consequences and full reimbursement. This is an exclusive feature which no other platform allows. 

Moreover, Talkspace does not allow live counselling sessions to take place, which makes BetterHelp much more personable. 

Finally, other platforms like Pride Counselling and and Regain are limited to providing specialized services only to a specific group of people. BetterHelp allows a more vast range of treatment. 

Pros and Cons 

Pros 

• Closest to in-person therapy since it provides live sessions 
• Very affordable compared to other services of its kind 
• Fully licensed therapists 
• Multiple therapy approaches 
• Different evidence based therapeutic interventions 
• Fully accreditation from the Better Business Bureau 
• Flexible useability across mobile app and website 
• SSL and 256-bit encryption 
• Free 7 day trial period

Cons

• No psychiatric help offered 
• No insurance 
• Therapists usually only reply once every 24 hours 
• E-therapy can be impersonable 

Whom it is recommended for 

• People who value live sessions
• People who are unsure about their mental health condition and want a comprehensive diagnosis 
• People who are always on the go 
• People with a reliable internet connection and those who are tech savvy
• Those looking for affordable therapy
• Someone who is looking for a user friendly platform 
• Someone looking for a flexible therapy schedule 

Whom it is not recommended for 

• Those requiring psychiatric guidance
• Those who are in need of medication 
• Those living in rural areas without access to reliable internet connections 
• People who are severely mentally ill
• People who are experiencing suicidal ideation 
• People who prefer making personal connections and in-person therapy 

Conclusion

This article addressed the question ‘Is BetterHelp worth it?’. It addressed multiple factors and reviewed many features of BetterHelp before arriving at a conclusion. These features included the background and primary mission of BetterHelp, its legitimacy, the types of therapy its therapists provide, their credibility and how a client chooses one. 

Moreover, its security, pricing and suitability was judged. 

Finally, in light of the information reviewed, it is safe to conclude that BetterHelp is generally very much worth it. This is in light of its economical packages and wide range of therapy especially. It makes BetterHelp one of the best, if not the best e-therapy service currently available. 

This is especially true for those who want to avail services that are affordable and allow live sessions to take place. 

Frequently Asked Questions

References 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.betterhelp.com