These services offer convenient, empathetic support for couples of all kinds
There are as many reasons to seek couples therapy as there are, well, couples: perhaps you want to work through a reoccurring issue, improve communication, or gain better tools to handle stress. Or maybe you want to keep a finely tuned
relationship humming. No matter why you’re seeking it, couples therapy can be an effective way to be happier with your partner.
As a licensed social worker and former therapist, I am all for couples therapy—and I recognize that online couples therapy is often more
affordable and convenient than in-person sessions. Over the last three years, I've overseen extensive testing of 55 different online therapy companies and have thoroughly reviewed all of their therapy services, including couples counseling. If you're seeking couples
therapy, these are the services I recommend.
What to Expect from Online Couples Counseling
♦ Who is it for? Couples, people in relationships, and individuals who want to work on their relationships independently.
♦ Will insurance cover it? Usually, couples therapy is not covered by insurance, but this also depends on the company and whether one of the people in couples therapy has a mental health diagnosis that is being treated.
♦ How do we meet? Many online couples therapy companies offer weekly sessions via video chat, phone, or text. In many cases, you and your partner can join the session from different devices.
♦ Is it confidential? Be sure to read through any company’s privacy policy to better understand whether it is HIPAA-compliant (HIPAA is the law that protects personal health information) and whether it shares any private information with third parties;
we recommend opting out of data collection.
♦ What’s the time commitment? You and your partner might find that you can work out your issues in a number of weeks, while other couples might need months or even years in therapy. As for how long you'll spend in each session, the companies on this list offer sessions from 30 to 50 minutes each.
♦ Does it work? Couples therapy, even online couples therapy in particular, has been proven effective, but you’ll only get out what you put in. If you come to therapy ready to do the work, you’re more likely to see success.
How Do You Know If You Need Couples Therapy?
If you are having trouble communicating with your partner, if you find yourselves fighting a lot, or if you are disagreeing about important aspects of your lives, these are all great reasons to try out couples therapy. Working with a couples
therapist can help strengthen your relationship by improving the way you talk to and interact with each other, practicing better ways of solving problems, and really delving into the issues that are repeatedly arising in the relationship.
But couples therapy isn’t just for people whose relationships are on the rocks. Going to couples therapy can help even the strongest of couples understand each other better and get ahead of problems that might crop up down the road. It’s a great way to practice
good communication and make sure that you and your partner are doing—and will continue to do—the best things for your relationship.
Paying for Online Couples Therapy
Some online therapy companies who provide couples therapy operate as subscriptions—you pay a certain amount monthly for a certain number of sessions in that month. Other companies are pay-per-session. The amount you pay might be fixed, or
might differ depending on your location or the qualifications of your therapist.
It’s important to note that couples therapy is generally not covered by insurance, because it is usually not considered a necessary service. However, if one or both of you have a
diagnosed mental health condition, you might be able to use your insurance to pay for your online couples therapy sessions.
How I Review Online Therapy Services
I’ve spent years testing and surveying real therapy users and reviewing their experiences to help rate and share the best online therapy services. You can see a full breakdown of our online therapy research and testing process on Verywell Mind. Here is an overview of how I capture and evaluate firsthand experience and survey data.
Firsthand Experience
I had 65 different people sign up for talk therapy with all 55 online therapy companies reviewed. Over the past three years, I’ve published 153 reviews (here are our reviews for BetterHelp and Talkspace, for instance). I had my testers try
out each company's therapy services, and if the company offered other services (like couples therapy and kid or teen therapy) we tested those too.
I asked each tester to try each service for at least a month, which usually meant between two and six sessions at
each company. I also asked testers to switch therapists partway through, if possible, in order to get a holistic idea of the offerings and quality of each company. My testers were located all across the United States and abroad, meaning I gained extensive
information about each company's services in a variety of areas.
User Surveys
I surveyed more than 8,000 therapy clients who are currently using one of the 55 online therapy companies tested or who had used one in the recent past, as well as users of 27 different online therapy directories. I asked users to evaluate
each company's services, from their therapist's qualifications to whether they found a therapist who met all their needs to how they'd rate the company overall—all told, I gathered 350 different data points.
Medication and Online Therapy
Therapists, whether online or in-person, are not allowed to prescribe medication. (In a handful of states psychologists can, but this is the exception.) For the most part, only psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners can prescribe
medication to treat mental illness. If an online therapy company also offers psychiatry or medication management services, that means that they have prescribers on staff, separate from their therapists.
Psychiatry services are generally more expensive than
therapy services, and the follow-up sessions are shorter than therapy sessions (usually around 15 minutes).
When looking for online psychiatry, make sure the company in question offers this service—they will advertise it as a separate service from online therapy.
While signing up for the company, you will have to indicate that you are looking for psychiatry or medication management. From there, the company will usually match you with a prescriber.
