How Much Does Therapy Cost in Singapore: in 2026?

In the public system, a subsidised first psychiatric consultation at the Institute of Mental Health costs S$32.86 to S$76.67, and the Ministry of Health's own figure for what subsidised patients pay for outpatient mental health care is around $300 to $500 a year after subsidy. In the private sector there is no published fee schedule at all, and the honest answer is that you ask the practice.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

What Singapore publishes is not a price list but a set of rules, and the rules decide what you pay. Here they are.

The door you enter decides the price

Singapore's public system is not free at the point of care. It works on means-tested subsidies, and the subsidy attaches to the route you take. See a polyclinic doctor or a GP first and get referred, and you are a subsidised patient at the specialist clinic. Walk into the same clinic privately and you pay the full rate, for the same doctor.

The Institute of Mental Health, the country's psychiatric hospital, publishes exactly what that difference is worth. These are its outpatient consultation charges for Singapore citizens, inclusive of 9% GST:

Consultation	Subsidised	Non-subsidised
Adult, first visit	S$32.86 – S$76.67	S$95.00 – S$201.64
Adult, repeat visit	S$30.74 – S$71.73	S$85.00 – S$141.70
Child & adolescent, first visit	S$34.61 – S$80.74	S$130.00 – S$229.89
Child & adolescent, repeat visit	S$32.75 – S$76.43	S$95.00 – S$159.50

The subsidised range depends on your means-tested subsidy level; the non-subsidised rate depends on the seniority of the doctor, from medical officer up to senior consultant. Rates are higher for permanent residents and non-residents, and IMH notes that from 1 June 2025 additional charges may apply for extended consultations. Confirm the figure at the counter; the hospital says charges can change without notice.

Mental health is financed like a chronic disease

This is the structural fact most guides miss. The main public financing for outpatient mental health care does not run through a dedicated mental health scheme. Instead, schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety sit on the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) list alongside diabetes and hypertension, and the same machinery applies.

That machinery has two working parts:

• MediSave. You can draw up to $500 a year from your MediSave account for outpatient treatment of a CDMP condition, or up to $700 if your condition is complex. Each claim carries a 15% co-payment in cash.
• Government subsidies at polyclinics, and CHAS subsidies at participating GP clinics, which reduce the bill before MediSave touches it.

What does that add up to in practice? In April 2026 the Ministry of Health told Parliament that subsidised patients treated for mental health conditions under the CDMP "incurred annual post-subsidy bills of around $300 to $500 at public and selected private settings on average, depending on the complexity of their condition". That is the closest thing to a real national price that exists, and it is an annual figure, not a per-session one.

The change coming on 1 January 2027

The MediSave limits above are today's. From 1 January 2027 the basic annual limit rises from $500 to $700, and the limit for complex conditions from $700 to $1,000, under what will then be called the MediSave Chronic and Preventive Care scheme. If you are reading this after that date, the higher limits apply.

Patients aged 60 and above can also draw a further $200 a year under Flexi-MediSave.

CHAS Green: subsidy regardless of income

The Community Health Assist Scheme normally tiers its subsidies by household income. Mental health is the exception. Since November 2019, CHAS Green has allowed all chronic patients, "regardless of income", to receive CHAS subsidies for the four CDMP mental health conditions at participating GP clinics.

The practical meaning: you can be treated for depression or anxiety by a GP near your home, with a government subsidy, without passing an income test and without going anywhere near a hospital. For many people this is the cheapest sustainable route into care.

The cheapest real therapy in the country

Singapore has a version of the university training clinic route that works well elsewhere. The psychology clinic at James Cook University's Singapore campus is open to the public, and its published rate for therapy is $25 an hour, with psychological assessment at $300 all inclusive and a discount or fee waiver for clients who meet the household income eligibility. No referral is needed, and children can be seen with parental consent. Those figures are from the clinic's own page, last updated October 2023, so confirm them when you call.

What we are not telling you

You will find pages online quoting exact private-sector prices: a psychiatrist figure, a psychologist figure, a counsellor figure, sometimes by district. We have no evidence any of that is real. Singapore has no national fee schedule for private mental health care, and no professional body publishes one. Private fees are set practice by practice, and the only reliable number is the one the practice itself gives you when you ask. What genuinely varies in Singapore is not the price band but the wait: public subsidised routes involve referral and queue time, and paying privately is largely paying to skip that.

If you need someone now

• National mindline 1771: call 1771, any hour, any day. Text and webchat options are on mindline.sg. Launched 18 June 2025, it is Singapore's round-the-clock national mental health line.
• Samaritans of Singapore: emotional support for people in crisis; contact details are on sos.org.sg.
• IMH mental health helpline: the Institute of Mental Health runs a helpline; the number is on imh.com.sg.

Sources

• NHG Health / Institute of Mental Health, Charges & Payments: the outpatient consultation table above, GST treatment, and the extended-consultation note. Read 27 July 2026.
• Ministry of Health, parliamentary reply on out-of-pocket mental health costs, 7 April 2026: the $300 to $500 annual post-subsidy figure.
• Ministry of Health, Chronic Disease Management Programme: the condition list and the 15% cash co-payment.
• Ministry of Health, Keeping Healthcare Affordable: current MediSave limits and the increase to $700 and $1,000 from 1 January 2027.
• Ministry of Health, Mental Health and Preventive Care in Primary Care: CHAS Green and the regardless-of-income rule, and Flexi-MediSave.
• Ministry of Health, national mindline 1771 launch: the 1771 service and its channels.
• James Cook University Singapore, Psychology Clinic: the $25 hourly rate, assessment fee and fee waiver.

Reviewed July 2026. IMH charges and MOH scheme rules were read at source on 27 July 2026. MediSave limits shown are those in force now; the 1 January 2027 increase is stated alongside them. Fee ranges are quoted, not averaged, so you can check each one.