Reviews (1)

I think people who've never needed therapy before have no idea how time-consuming, energy-sapping, and emotionally and mentally exhausting it is. BetterHelp gets 5 stars from me because they've made it so simple and easy to jump from one therapist to another, offering catered lists of people who match the qualities you've asked for.

You don't have to drive or hop on a bus to someone's office, have a "test session" with them to see if the two of you mesh well, and then keep making that journey to the office if you decide to stick with them. It's a few clicks on a screen. And if you don't work well with someone? It's a single click to disengage and swap therapists, try someone new.

When you're struggling with, well, anything, it's such an enormous relief to have the process made so simple and easy for you. The effort on your part is minimal, which is wonderful when you have almost no energy or effort to spare.

And as someone living in a country where I don't speak the main language, it was another enormous relief to be instantly connected to therapists who spoke my language, whereas trying to find someone fluent in my language that I can meet in person was just impossible. For that reason, I'd massively recommend BetterHelp to expats or anyone else who struggles to find an in-person therapist who speaks their language.

Two noteworthy flaws:

1) If you don't stay with the first therapist who is matched to you, BetterHelp then offers you a list of potential alternates. But not all of the people on that list tick all the boxes you ticked in the initial questionnaire. It was frustrating to be shown so many potential therapists who didn't work in the areas I needed. All you have to do is keep scrolling down the list, though, there are plenty of people on the list who do match your requirements.

2) The therapists themselves tick the boxes on what issues they work with. I've not encountered anyone who lied about what they work with, but many of the therapists who say they deal with trauma do not, in fact, deal with serious trauma, like child abuse, combat experience, being a victim of an assault, etc. They seem to think that counseling people through a divorce means they can tick the box for trauma. This is obviously hugely misleading to those with more serious trauma who are looking for help. If you do go looking for someone to help with trauma, and they do not specify what kinds in their bio, I recommend asking upfront in your first meeting. I wasted a fair bit of time with someone who was not qualified or experienced enough to help me, because she'd checked the trauma box when (in my opinion) she shouldn't have.

3) If you do change therapists, you lose all records of your messages and other interactions with your previous therapist. Personally, I'd have preferred to keep mine.

One critique/suggestion: I wish BetterHelp allowed you to search for/filter therapists by what kind of therapy they offer – EMDR vs cognitive behavioral therapy vs psychoanalysis, and so on. For those of us who have bounced around the ring a few times, we know what hasn't worked and would like to skip over people who only use those methods.