How Much Does Therapy Cost in Cairo in 2026?

In ordinary Cairo practice, a session with a psychologist or psychotherapist costs about EGP 400 to EGP 600. A specialist psychiatrist costs about EGP 600 to EGP 1,200, and well-known senior psychiatrists charge EGP 1,200 to EGP 2,000 or more.

Clinics in upmarket districts such as Zamalek sit higher, around EGP 800 to EGP 1,200. In Nasr City and Maadi you are more likely to pay EGP 400 to EGP 600. Maadi appears again in the higher band below because it hosts both markets: domestic Arabic-speaking practices at this level, and the English-speaking international sector at a much higher one.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

Based on prices found advertised on multiple blogs, not official authoritative sources. Use with caution.

There is also a public route. A consultation at a government psychiatric facility costs around EGP 200, and the national mental health line is free. Those options are covered below.

Two different markets, two different prices

If you search for Cairo therapy costs you will find figures that seem to contradict each other, and it is worth understanding why, because it affects which number applies to you.

Cairo has an English-speaking, international-facing sector, concentrated in Maadi and Zamalek and used heavily by expatriates and returning Egyptians. Those centres are the ones most often written about in English. A survey of nine of them by the business newspaper Enterprise found fees of EGP 500 to EGP 1,900 in November 2023. Egyptian prices have risen roughly 46% since then, which puts that sector at something like EGP 750 to EGP 2,800 today.

Alongside it is the domestic Arabic-language market, which is considerably cheaper and much larger. It is where the EGP 400 to EGP 600 figure comes from.

Neither is wrong. They are different parts of the same city. If you are looking for a therapist who works in English, expect to pay towards the upper figures. If you are comfortable in Arabic, the range opens up substantially.

What you are paying for

• Psychotherapy and counselling sessions usually run 50 minutes.
• Psychiatric appointments are usually shorter, around 30 minutes, focused on assessment and medication rather than talking therapy.
• Some centres charge extra for time beyond the standard session, typically in 15-minute blocks.

Watch for a split between the first appointment and later ones, which is common in Cairo and easy to miss. One clinic charges EGP 1,600 for an initial assessment but EGP 400 for each follow-up, and EGP 1,200 or EGP 300 respectively if you meet online. The headline price you are quoted may be the assessment, not the ongoing cost. Ask about both.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can diagnose and prescribe. A psychologist or psychotherapist provides talking therapy and cannot prescribe. Many people see both, and they are not alternatives to one another.

Why these figures come with a caution

Most Egyptian mental health providers do not publish their fees. We checked five well-known Cairo centres directly and none listed a current price publicly, including the large online platforms, which put pricing behind an app sign-up.

So the ranges above are assembled from prices advertised across a number of Egyptian websites and market guides, rather than from official or authoritative published schedules. They are a reasonable guide to what people are paying. They are not quotes, and we would not want you to treat them as such.

Practically, this means two things. Expect to ask about cost directly when you first make contact, which is entirely ordinary in Egypt and not rude. And treat any single figure you read online, ours included, as a starting point for that conversation.

Free and lower-cost routes

The government mental health line

The General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment operates a national mental health hotline on 16328. It is the official government service.

Public psychiatric hospitals

Egypt runs specialised psychiatric hospitals providing outpatient and inpatient care, medication, counselling, support groups and emergency services. In Cairo these include Abbasiya, Helwan and Khanka. Public and university hospitals also provide mental health services more generally.

A consultation at these facilities costs around EGP 200. That figure follows a 2025 ministerial decree that raised charges at government psychiatric facilities substantially, in some categories by several hundred per cent. Inpatient accommodation now runs EGP 150 to EGP 550 a day. The public route remains far cheaper than private practice, but it is meaningfully more expensive than it was, and that is worth knowing if you are planning for a long course of treatment.

Online sessions

Egyptian online platforms are generally cheaper than seeing someone in person, and at least one advertises sessions from around EGP 200. Follow-up appointments online often cost less than the same appointment in a consulting room. Worth considering if cost or travelling across Cairo is the obstacle.

Refugees and asylum seekers

If you are a refugee or asylum seeker in Egypt, mental health services provided by UNHCR and its partner organisations are free of charge. Mersal Foundation is one such partner, reachable on 0221206845, daily from 9am to 9pm.

Questions worth asking when you call

• What is the fee for a session, and how long is a session?
• Is the first appointment charged differently from later ones?
• Do you charge more if the session runs longer?
• Is an online session cheaper than coming in?
• Do you have reduced fees for people who cannot pay the full rate?
• Is the practitioner a psychiatrist, a psychologist or a counsellor, and what are their qualifications?
• Can you provide an invoice I can submit to my insurer?

Sources

• Enterprise (EnterpriseAM Egypt), Your guide to therapy services in Cairo, 10 November 2023: the survey of nine Cairo centres behind the English-facing sector figures.
• World Bank, Egypt consumer price index: used to bring the 2023 figures forward to today's money.
• Zawia3, reporting on the 2025 increases in mental health treatment fees, 18 August 2025: the public-sector consultation and inpatient figures.
• UNHCR Egypt, Mental health services: the government hotline, the public psychiatric hospitals, and free services for refugees and asylum seekers.

Reviewed July 2026. The private ranges are drawn from prices advertised online rather than from official schedules, because Cairo providers do not publish them. We will replace them with verified figures as soon as we can obtain them.