Is Telehealth for Mental Health Therapy More Common Than In-Person Mental Health Therapy for Adults?

Summary: No, telehealth for mental health therapy is not more common than in-person mental health therapy for adults. With awareness of the increased availability and popularity of telehealth for mental health purposes that began in 2020 during the pandemic, a new study examines whether telehealth is more common than in-person mental health therapy.

Key Points:

• Although the technology for telehealth/virtual therapy for mental health has been in place for nearly two decades, use of telehealth increased during the 2020 COVID pandemic.
• Overall rates of telehealth for all health purposes remain elevated in 2025 compared to rates reported in 2019.
• New research analyzes patient data to determine rates of telehealth for mental health therapy compared to hybrid and in-person mental health therapy.
• Data shows telehealth is more common among some demographic groups and for some diagnoses than others, compared to hybrid and in-person mental health therapy.

Telehealth for Mental Health Therapy Convenient and Effective, Growing in Popularity

By 2025, most adults have probably used telehealth in some form or another. Whether for a video visit for a bad cold when getting to an urgent care would be miserable, getting an appointment for whatever less than six months out, or asking a nurse practitioner or M.D. for a quick question that doesn’t require a full in-person visit, telehealth is a relatively new development in health care most of us welcome, and take advantage of when it makes sense.

The data confirms it: telehealth is now an acceptable way to receive certain types of care.

The data we link to in the bullets above shows an astounding increase in the use of telehealth for general purposes between 2019 and 2022, from around one (1) percent of the adult population reporting telehealth use in 2019 to close to 22 percent reporting telehealth use in 2022.

However, those studies don’t report telehealth use for mental health purposes. That’s why a new study called “Telemental Health, Hybrid, and In-Person Outpatient Mental Health Care in the US” has our attention. Researchers used publicly available data to answer the following question:

“How are mental health outpatients in the US distributed across telehealth, hybrid, and in-person care?”

To answer this question, the research team examined records from a nationally representative survey of adults 18+ in the U.S. called the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Participants included close to 5,000 patients, 63 percent female and 47 percent over age 45.

The research team focused on the percentages of telehealth, hybrid – i.e. a combination of telehealth and in person – an in-person mental health therapy. They reported data for each of the three modalities by the following categories:

• Age Groups: Total 18+, 18-44, 45-64, and 65+.
• Gender: female or male
• Type of Disorder: depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma/stress disorders, ADHD/ADHD-related disorders, substance use disorders.
• Type of Provider: licensed clinical social worker, mental health counselor, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, general medical clinician.

Before we report their findings – and in order to give the data context – we’ll offer the latest verified prevalence rates for the disorders the researchers examined.

The Current State of Mental Health Among U.S. Adults

The following data are publicly available via the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). We provide links to the relevant datasets below each subheading.

Here’s the 30,000-foot view on the prevalence of mental illness/mental health disorders among adults in the U.S.

Any Mental Illness

2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH)

 

• Total 18+: 23.4%
• 18-25: 33.2%
• 26-49: 29.7%
• 50+: 15.2%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that around 64 million adults in the U.S. had a mental illness in 2023.

Prevalence of Depressive Disorders

2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH)

• Total: 8.2%
• 18-25: 15.9%
• 26-49: 10.0%
• 50+: 4.4%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that around 22 million adults in the U.S. had a depressive disorder in 20243.

Prevalence of Anxiety Disorders

Most recent data verified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

• Total: 18.2%
• 18-29: 26.6%
• 30-44: 20.7%
• 45-64: 15.8%
• 65+: 11.2%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that around 50 million adults in the U.S. had an anxiety disorder in 2022.

Prevalence of Bipolar Disorders

Most recent data verified by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard University.

• Total: 2.8%
• 18-29: 4.7%
• 30-44: 3.5%
• 45-59: 2.2%
• 60+: 0.7%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that nearly 8.0 million adults in the U.S. had a bipolar disorder in 2022.

Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Most recent data verified by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard University.

• Total: 6.8%
• 18-29: 6.3%
• 30-44: 8.1%
• 45-59: 9.2%
• 60+: 2.8%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that nearly 8.0 million adults in the U.S. had a bipolar disorder in 2022.

Prevalence of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Most recent data verified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Harvard University.

• Total: 6.0%
• 18-24: 21.7%
• 25-49: 62.8%
• 50-64: 10.6%
• 65+: 4.9%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that 16.5 million adults in the U.S. had ADHD in 2022.

Prevalence of Substance Use Disorder (SUD)

2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH)

• Total 18+: 17.7%
• 18-25: 25.9%
• 25-49: 22.2%
• 50-64: 14.6%
• 65+: 8.0%

Based on an adult population of 275 million, this data shows that over 48 million adults in the U.S. had a substance use disorder in 2023.

Now let’s find out what percentages of these millions of people used telehealth, hybrid, or in-person mental health treatment. This will allow us to answer the question we pose in the title of this article: Is Telehealth for Mental Health Therapy More Common Than In-Person Mental Health Therapy for Adults?

Telehealth, Hybrid, or In-Person? Who Used Them?

We’ll report these findings in the following order: telehealth treatment, hybrid treatment, and in-person treatment, with age, gender, disorder type, and provider type included for each category of treatment. When reading these statistics, consider them in light of the prevalence data above. For instance, around 1/4^th of the 22 million adults with depressive disorders used in telehealth for therapy. That’s around 5 million people. Therefore, patients with a depressive disorder who’d prefer using telehealth for therapy can learn that they’re not alone, and that around 5 million adults in the U.S. share their preference.

Don’t worry – there won’t be a quiz, but we want patients reading this to have a practical idea of what these statistics mean.

Type of Care Received: By Age, Diagnosis, and Provider

Telehealth total: 27.8%

• By Age:
  • 18-44: 31.7%
  • 45-64: 24.2%
  • 65+: 19.4%
• By Gender:
  • Female: 27.4%
  • Male: 28.3%
• Disorder Type:
  • Depressive disorders: 24.7%
  • Bipolar disorders: 19.8%
  • Anxiety disorders: 24.8%
  • Trauma/stress disorders: 26.4%
  • ADHD/ADHD-related disorders: 21.7%
  • Substance use disorders: 11.5%
• By Provider Type:
  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker: 32.8%
  • Mental Health Counselor: 32.6%
  • Psychiatrist: 29.6%
  • Clinical Psychologist: 29.4%
  • General Medical Clinician: 13.6%

Hybrid total: 21.5%

• By Age:
  • 18-44: 21.3%
  • 45-64: 23.2%
  • 65+: 18.4%
• By Gender:
  • Female: 22.8%
  • Male: 19.3%
• Disorder Type:
  • Depressive disorders: 27.9%
  • Bipolar disorders: 31.2%
  • Anxiety disorders: 26.4%
  • Trauma/stress disorders: 30.9%
  • ADHD/ADHD-related disorders: 30.2%
  • Substance use disorders: 29.1%
• By Provider Type:
  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker: 29.5%
  • Mental Health Counselor: 29.0%
  • Psychiatrist: 30.1%
  • Clinical Psychologist: 34.0%
  • General Medical Clinician: 25.1%

In-Person total: 50.6%

• By Age:
  • 18-44: 46.8%
  • 45-64: 52.4%
  • 65+: 62.2%
• By Gender:
  • Female: 49.7%
  • Male: 52.1%
• Disorder Type:
  • Depressive disorders: 47.2%
  • Bipolar disorders: 49%
  • Anxiety disorders: 48.7%
  • Trauma/stress disorders: 42.7%
  • ADHD/ADHD-related disorders: 48.1%
  • Substance use disorders: 58.1%
• By Provider Type:
  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker: 37.7%
  • Mental Health Counselor: 38.3%
  • Psychiatrist: 40.2%
  • Clinical Psychologist: 36.6%
  • General Medical Clinician: 81%

The first takeaway from this data is the most obvious: in-person therapy is still the most common form of outpatient mental health treatment among adults in the U.S. If we use the NSDUH data on Any Mental Illness (AMI) as a reference, we can derive the following estimates from the figures above:

• In-person therapy: 50.6% of 275 million = 139 million
• Hybrid therapy: 21.5% of 275 million = 59.1 million
• Telehealth therapy: 27.8% of 275 million = 76.4 million

In simple terms, we can see that nearly twice as many people use in-person therapy compared to telehealth, and more than twice as many people use in-person therapy than hybrid therapy.  It appears that in-person therapy is still the preferred modality, which means telehealth is not more common than in-person mental health therapy for adults.

We’ll discuss these results further, below.

More Takeaways: Differences Between Young Adults, Middle-Aged Adults, and Older Adults

The next salient finding we’ll point out is preference by age:

More older adults preferred in-person therapy compared to younger and/or middle-aged adults, more middle-aged adults preferred hybrid therapy compared to younger and/or older adults, and more younger adults preferred telehealth compared to middle-aged and/or older adults.

However, a greater percentage of adults in all age groups preferred in-person therapy compared to hybrid therapy or telehealth therapy.

Additional findings include:

• In-person treatment was more common among patients experiencing serious emotional or psychological distress.
• Telehealth was more common among people who received treatment from mental health counselors or licensed clinical social workers, compared to people receiving treatment from psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, or general medical clinicians.
• Telehealth was more common among high school and college graduates, compared to patients without a high school diploma or college degree.
• In-person treatment was more common among patients in rural areas.
• Telehealth was more common among people reporting income 400% above the federal poverty level – $62,600/year – than those reporting income below $62,600/year.

Here’s how the study authors summarize their results:

“The findings of this cross-sectional study indicate that telehealth has become a common means of receiving outpatient mental health care in the US, especially for resourced patients with less serious psychological distress who receive psychotherapy from mental health specialists.”

The big picture takeaway is that in-person therapy remains the preferred modality for receiving mental health treatment among adults in the U.S., and that – although it’s becoming more common each year – telehealth is not more common than in-person mental health therapy among adults in the U.S.