Welcoming a new baby to the family can be very joyful, but it also comes with a lot of other overwhelming feelings. If you’re feeling anxiety or extreme sadness during this time, you are not alone. Postpartum mood disorders are very common after birth. In fact, 1 in 5Opens a new window moms experience a mental health or substance use disorder during pregnancy or in the first year after delivery.
Help might feel far away right now, but postpartum depression (PPD), postpartum anxiety (PPA), and other perinatal mental health conditions are treatable – even from home, thanks to many online therapy options. These telehealth providers have convenient and affordable options so you can get the support you need as a parent.
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“What you lose in ‘personal touch,’ you make up for in convenience, ease of commute, and accessibility,” says BabyCenter Community member and online therapy user JojobaGinger. “If I go out of town, I can still get my therapy time in … It definitely is working for me, and now that I have a therapist who is helping me, I’m content with the format.”
“Online or telehealth mental health solutions play a crucial role in supporting the well-being of mothers,” says Sipra Laddha, M.D., a reproductive psychiatrist, member of the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board, and founder of LunaJoy Health, a telemental health clinic that focuses on perinatal mental health conditions. “They provide accessible, convenient, stigma-free support options during this extremely vulnerable time.”
Prioritize your own mental health by considering the online therapy options below, all of which offer convenience during this busy stage in your life.
How we chose the best online therapy options
To choose the best online therapy options for parents, we consulted with Everyday HealthOpens a new window, a sister site of BabyCenter that offers up-to-date, evidence-based health and medical information.
Everyday Health spent more than 2,000 hours researching online therapy, surveyed 1,500 online therapy users, consulted six leading psychiatry and psychology experts, and reviewed hundreds of academic articles to rate the best online therapy services. With that information in mind, the reviews team considered the following factors in its evaluations:
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Cost: Because affordability is one of the biggest barriers in getting mental health care, cost was one of the most important criteria. Companies that offered at least one budget-friendly plan were prioritized.
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Customer service: Testers reached out to each platform by both phone and email to gauge its responsiveness and helpfulness.
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Patient satisfaction: The reviews team looked at each company’s score on Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot to evaluate how they respond to negative experiences.
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Therapist credentials: Companies had to have licensed therapists – experts such as psychologists, psychiatrists, licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional therapists, and licensed mental health counselors.
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Modes of therapy: The reviews team prioritized companies that had multiple types of therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or psychoanalysis, available.
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Years in operation: Platforms that have established track records – or have emerged as disruptors in this space – were considered.
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User friendliness: How easy is it to sign up and choose a therapist? Can patients pick between different formats (video, phone, or text) for their sessions? Is the platform intuitive to navigate? Is it simple to switch therapists or cancel a subscription altogether? The team considered these questions and more when making their picks.