How Much Does Therapy Cost in France in 2026?

France has two published routes into therapy. Mon soutien psy pays for up to 12 psychologist sessions a year at a state-set €50 per session, with 60% reimbursed and no doctor's letter required. The CMP network offers public psychiatric care that is free, funded entirely by social security. Private practice outside these routes publishes no fee schedule.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

Mon soutien psy: the state rate

The scheme changed substantially in 2025, and any guide still describing eight sessions at €30 with a compulsory doctor's letter is out of date. A decree in the Journal officiel of 15 May 2025 reset the terms:

• Up to 12 sessions per calendar year, up from 8.
• €50 per session, the tariff set by the scheme, up from €30.
• No referral needed: in the state's own words, you are no longer required to see a doctor or midwife first. You book directly with a participating psychologist.
• Assurance Maladie reimburses 60%; complementary insurance (mutuelle) covers the remaining 40%. With a mutuelle the session costs you nothing; without one, your share is €20.

The scheme is for mild to moderate psychological distress, from age 3. Heavier or ongoing psychiatric need sits outside it, which is what the second route is for.

The CMP: free, and yours by address

Every French address belongs to a sector with a centre médico-psychologique. The official description is unambiguous: "consultations at CMPs are free; they are entirely financed by social security." Teams include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers, and you contact your sector's CMP directly to ask for an appointment. The honest caveat is time, not money: waits for a first CMP appointment vary widely, and we found no reliably published figures, so ask when you call.

Outside the routes: the private market

Private psychologists and psychotherapists in France set their own fees, and no French professional body publishes a schedule. Pages quoting a standard French session price are quoting themselves. The two certain numbers are the state's: €50 under Mon soutien psy, and zero at the CMP. For anything else, the reliable figure is the one the practice quotes you; many participating psychologists also see private clients at their own rates, so it is worth asking which basis you are being seen on.

If you need someone now

• Suicide Écoute: 01 45 39 40 00, day and night.
• France also runs a national suicide prevention line, reachable around the clock; our page on suicide hotlines and crisis lines in France lists the services we have verified.

Sources

• Service-public.gouv.fr, Mon soutien psy: increase in reimbursed sessions: the 15 May 2025 decree, the 12 sessions, the €50 tariff, the 60% reimbursement and the end of the referral requirement. Read 28 July 2026.
• Psycom (public mental health information service), Centre médico-psychologique: the free-of-charge rule, the sector system and the team composition. Read 28 July 2026.

Reviewed July 2026. Scheme figures are the French state's own, read at source on 28 July 2026, after the May 2025 decree. We quote no private euro figures because none have a published source.