Released: October 13, 2008

Angst is rising, but therapy costs too much

Source: Elizabeth Bernstein, Wall Street Journal (Free Registration)

In the latest sign of the deepening economic crisis, more people are considering cutting back on their mental-health therapy, even as they become more stressed.

Across the country, psychiatrists and psychologists say they are seeing an increasing number of patients who are worried about paying for treatment. Some are reducing the amount of time they spend in therapy. Others are trying to negotiate a reduced fee. And, despite doctors’ warnings that it can be detrimental, some patients are using tactics to make their medication last longer, such as taking half their dose.

“People are in a quandary,” says Jaine Darwin, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Cambridge, Mass. “The economy is forcing them to decide, ‘Do I give up my lifeline?’”

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