Trends in Outpatient Psychotherapy Among Adults in the US.

Importance: While access to psychotherapy has recently increased in the US, concern exists that recent gains may be unevenly distributed despite teletherapy expansion.

Objective: To characterize recent trends and patterns in outpatient psychotherapy by US adults.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a repeated cross-sectional study of psychotherapy use among adults (ages ≥18 years) in the 2018 to 2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, which are nationally representative surveys of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. Data were analyzed from March to August 2024.

Main Outcomes And Measures: Age-, sex-, and distress-adjusted differences between 2018 and 2021 in use of any psychotherapy and video-based psychotherapy (teletherapy) in 2021 with tests for trend differences (interactions) across levels of sociodemographic characteristics and distress were assessed. Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler-6 scale, with scores of 13 or higher defining serious psychological distress, 1 to 12 defining mild to moderate distress, and 0 defining no distress.

Results: The analysis involved 89 619 participants (47 838 female [51.5%] and 41 781 male [48.5%]; 22 510 aged 18-34 years [29.0%], 43 371 aged 35-64 years [48.8%], and 23 738 aged ≥65 years [22.2%]). Between 2018 and 2021, psychotherapy use increased significantly faster for females (931/12 270 females [7.7%] to 1207/12 237 females [10.5%]) than males (547/10 741 males [5.2%] to 655/10 544 males [6.3%]), younger (455/6149 individuals [8.0%] to 602/5296 individuals [11.9%] aged 18-34 years) than older (217/5550 individuals [3.6%] to 304/6708 individuals [4.6%] aged ≥65 years) adults, college graduates (503/6456 adults [7.6%] to 810/7277 adults [11.4%]) than those without a high school diploma (193/3824 adults [5.5%] to 200/3593 adults [7.0%]), privately insured (881/14 387 adults [6.1%] to 1154/13 414 adults [8.9%]) than publicly insured (558/6511 adults [8.8%] to 659/7453 adults [8.8%]) individuals, adults at 2 to 4 times the poverty level (370/6670 adults [5.7%] to 488/6370 adults [8.2%]) than those below the poverty level (384/4495 adults [9.7%] to 428/4760 adults [10.0%]), employed persons overall (733/13 358 adults [5.7%] to 1082/12 365 adults [8.9%]) than unemployed persons aged 65 years and younger (547/5138 adults [10.8%] to 519/4905 adults [10.5%]), and urban (1335/20 682 adults [6.5%] to 1729/20 590 adults [8.7%]) than rural (143/2329 adults [6.4%] to 133/2191 adults [5.9%]) residents. In 2021, after controlling for distress level, teletherapy use was significantly higher among younger than middle-aged (aged 35-64 years: difference, -3.7 percentage points; 95% CI, -5.1 to -2.3) or older (aged ≥65 years: difference, -6.5 percentage points (95% CI, -8.0 to -5.0 percentage points) adults, females (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.9 to 2.9 percentage points) than males, not married (difference, 2.9 percentage points; 95% CI, 1.6 to 4.2 percentage points) than married persons, college educated adults (difference, 4.9 percentage points; 95% CI, 3.3 to 6.4 percentage points) than those without a high school diploma, people with higher (eg, 400% vs <100% of the federal poverty level: difference, 2.3 percentage points; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.5 percentage points) than lower incomes, privately than publicly (difference, -2.5 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.4 to -1.5 percentage points) insured persons, and urban (difference, 2.7 percentage points; 95% CI, 1.5 to 3.8 percentage points) than rural residents.

Conclusions: This study found that psychotherapy use increased significantly faster among several socioeconomically advantaged groups and that inequalities were evident in teletherapy access. These trends and patterns highlight a need for clinical interventions and health care policies to broaden access to psychotherapy including teletherapy.