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Talk Therapy On The Rise, Psychiatric Meds Used Less Often

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on May 9, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 9, 2025 — More talk and fewer pills are being employed to help Americans maintain their mental health, a new study says.

Psychotherapy is assuming a larger role in mental health care, while medications prescribed without accompanying therapy are becoming less common, according to results published in early May in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

“After years of American mental health care moving towards greater use of psychiatric medications, the pendulum has started swinging back towards psychotherapy,” lead researcher Dr. Mark Olfson said in a news release. He's a professor of epidemiology and psychiatry at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Of Americans relying on outpatient mental health care, the percentage relying on psychotherapy alone rose to 15% in 2021 from less than 12% in 2018, researchers found.

At the same time, those relying on medication alone to help their mental health dropped from 68% to 62%, results show. These drugs included antidepressants, antipsychotics and ADHD meds.

However, the percentage of patients receiving psychotherapy from psychiatrists declined from 41% to 34%, researchers said.

“Psychiatrists provided psychotherapy to a decreasing percentage of all psychotherapy patients, which may have increased the need for psychiatrists to refer patients to and collaborate with non-physician psychotherapists,” Olfson said.

“At the same time, social workers and counselors, but not psychologists, assumed a larger role in providing psychotherapy and there was an increase in the average number psychotherapy visits per patient,” he continued.

People also seemed more willing to stick with talk therapy, with more than 17% in 2021 saying they went to more than 20 sessions compared to less than 14% in 2018.

At the same time, the number of people who stopped therapy after one or two sessions declined from 34% in 2018 to 28% in 2021.

“Americans are becoming more willing to seek out and stick with psychotherapy,” Olfson said.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from four surveys of Americans, focusing on nearly 18,000 people who participated in mental health care visits.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted May 2025

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