Online therapy statistics

Therapy no longer needs a shared room. People now see therapists by video call or talk to them by phone. Others work through an internet programme with a therapist guiding them by message.

Two questions run through the figures here. How many people use therapy at a distance? And how well does it work next to therapy face to face?

Each figure names its group, its measure and its source. Trial results are effect sizes, not shares of people, and we say which comparison each one makes.

Worldwide: how remote therapy compares with face to face

These figures come from reviews that pool randomised trials. Each trial gave some people therapy at a distance and others the same care face to face. An effect size near zero means the two groups ended up about the same on average. Guided internet CBT means a programme of lessons, with a therapist giving feedback by message or phone. The guided internet CBT review compares the groups right after treatment. The video review of depressive disorders pools six trials and measures change from the start to the end of treatment; its result only just reached statistical significance. The review of seventeen trials judges treatment efficacy and gives no time point for the outcome.

• In randomised trials among adults with psychiatric or physical conditions, a review found that therapist-guided internet CBT and face-to-face CBT gave similar symptom improvement (pooled difference, Hedges' g 0.02). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ¹
• A review of trials comparing therapist-guided internet CBT with face-to-face CBT in adults pooled 31 randomised trials. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ¹
• The randomised trials pooled in a review comparing therapist-guided internet CBT with face-to-face CBT included 3,053 adults in total. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ¹
• A review comparing psychiatric treatment by video link with face-to-face treatment found 32 randomised trials across eleven mental illnesses. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁵
• For depressive disorders, a review of randomised trials found more symptom improvement with psychiatric treatment by video link than with face-to-face treatment (standardised mean difference -0.325, where a negative value favours video). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁵
• For adult outpatients with PTSD, mood disorders or anxiety disorders, a review of trials found psychiatric treatment by video comparable with in-person treatment (standardised mean difference -0.01). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2023, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁶

North America

The first United States figures come from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a national household survey. Telehealth was one of several ways people could report getting mental health treatment. The trial compared therapy by telephone with the same therapy face to face. Fewer people dropped out by phone. Six months after treatment, though, the face-to-face group had lower depression scores. The Canadian figure is a count from a free, publicly funded online therapy unit in Saskatchewan.

• In the United States in 2024, 12.8% of adults aged eighteen and over received mental health treatment by telehealth in the past year. (survey, past 12 months, 2024 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ²
• In the United States in 2024, 32.6% of adults with any mental illness in the past year received mental health treatment by telehealth. (survey, past 12 months, 2024 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ²
• In a randomised trial in Chicago in the United States, 20.9% of primary care patients with major depressive disorder given CBT by telephone stopped before the end of treatment. (randomised trial, 2007-2010 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁴
• In a randomised trial in Chicago in the United States, 32.7% of primary care patients with major depressive disorder given CBT face to face stopped before the end of treatment. (randomised trial, 2007-2010 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁴
• In Saskatchewan, Canada, 2,766 people received guided internet CBT from the Online Therapy Unit in the years 2010-2017. (administrative records, 2010-2017 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁷

Europe

A health service in Denmark offers guided internet CBT as part of routine care. The count comes from a paper by researchers from five such clinics, which describes how each one works. It shows how many people the clinic treated, not how well the treatment worked.

• In Denmark in 2017, the Internetpsykiatrien clinic of the Region of Southern Denmark treated 183 people with guided internet CBT as part of routine care. (administrative records, 2017 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁷

Oceania

Australia's survey figure comes from the Patient Experience Survey of people aged fifteen and over, run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Telehealth there means an appointment by phone, video or another technology. The clinic count comes from the same paper as the European counts.

• In Australia in 2024-25, 26.0% of people who saw a health professional for their own mental health did so at least once by telehealth. (survey, past 12 months, 2024-25 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ³
• In Australia in 2017, the free national MindSpot Clinic treated 4,054 people with guided internet CBT. (administrative records, 2017 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁷

Asia

India runs Tele-MANAS, a free national mental health service by phone. The count is the programme's own, reported by clinicians who help run it, not an independent audit. It counts calls, not people, so one person may account for several calls.

• By March 2026, India's free national tele-mental-health service, Tele-MANAS, had handled nearly 3.43 million calls, according to an editorial by clinicians at NIMHANS, the institute that helped develop and coordinate it. (2026 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁸

Africa

We found no national figures on therapy by video or phone in Africa. These figures come from one open trial at a South African university, which ran group CBT over a video call platform. An open trial has no comparison group, so it shows uptake and attendance, not whether the therapy beat anything else.

• In an open trial with no comparison group at a university in South Africa, 90.3% of students who enrolled in group CBT by video call started treatment. (published 2021, year not stated, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁹
• In an open trial at a university in South Africa, students who started group CBT by video call attended an average of 6.4 of the ten weekly sessions. (published 2021, year not stated, checked 10 Oct 2026) ⁹

Middle East

Step-by-Step is a guided digital programme for depression from the World Health Organization and its partners. Trained helpers who are not mental health specialists support each user. The comparison is of depression scores at the end of treatment, against enhanced usual care. More than half of those offered it did not return the follow-up questionnaires.

• In a randomised trial among displaced Syrians with depression in Lebanon, the WHO guided digital programme Step-by-Step reduced depression compared with enhanced usual care (standardised mean difference 0.48). (randomised trial, 2019-2020 data, checked 10 Oct 2026) ¹⁰

South America

This small pilot trial in Brazil compared internet CBT with a waiting list, measuring symptoms at the end of treatment. The authors note that a waiting list makes it hard to separate the programme's own effect from the general effect of taking part. Many participants gave no data after treatment, so the result rests on those who stayed. The authors' analysis of everyone randomised, dropouts included, found no significant difference between the groups.

• In a pilot trial among young adults aged eighteen to twenty-four in Brazil, internet CBT with therapist chat support cut depressive symptoms more than a waiting list (Cohen's d 0.87, completers only). (randomised trial published 2025, year not stated, checked 10 Oct 2026) ¹¹

Remote therapy against face to face

Each row comes from a review of trials that compared care at a distance with face-to-face care. The reviews cover different conditions and forms of care, so read each row with its label. The figures are effect sizes, not shares of people.

How to read these figures

An effect size is not the share of people who got better. It shows how far apart two groups ended up, in standard units.

Each review uses its own sign. In the video review of depressive disorders, a negative value favours video.

Survey figures on telehealth count people who used it at least once. They do not say how much of their care was remote.

The clinic counts describe services as they stood several years ago. They show reach, not results.

In these reviews, therapy by video and guided internet CBT did about as well as face-to-face care for many people. The phone trial lost fewer people by phone, but face-to-face care scored better on depression six months later. Neither form suits everyone. Some people prefer a room and a face, and a therapist can help you weigh the choice. TherapyRoute lists therapists who offer online sessions as well as in-person ones. Our guide on how to find the right therapist explains what to look for. If you are in distress right now, or thinking about ending your life, see our helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Online therapy statistics. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/online-therapy-statistics-by-therapyroute. Last updated 10 October 2026.

References

1. [1] Therapist-supported Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy yields similar effects as face-to-face therapy for psychiatric and somatic disorders: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. World Psychiatry (Hedman-Lagerlöf et al.), June 2023 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
2. [2] Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US), July 2025 samhsa.gov.
3. [3] Patient Experiences, 2024-25. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 18 November 2025 abs.gov.au.
4. [4] Effect of Telephone-Administered vs Face-to-face Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Adherence to Therapy and Depression Outcomes Among Primary Care Patients: A Randomized Trial. JAMA (Mohr et al.), 6 June 2012 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
5. [5] Telepsychiatry versus face-to-face treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. The British Journal of Psychiatry (Hagi et al.), 1 September 2023 cambridge.org.
6. [6] Psychiatric Treatment Conducted via Telemedicine Versus In-Person Modality in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Mood Disorders, and Anxiety Disorders: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JMIR Mental Health (Shaker et al.), 5 July 2023 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
7. [7] ICBT in routine care: A descriptive analysis of successful clinics in five countries. Internet Interventions (Titov et al.), September 2018 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
8. [8] India's Tele-MANAS: evolution, early outcomes and a scalable blueprint for digital public mental health. The British Journal of Psychiatry (Suhas et al.), 17 July 2026 cambridge.org.
9. [9] A Web-Based Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention for Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression Among University Students: Open-Label, Pragmatic Trial. JMIR Mental Health (Bantjes et al.), May 2021 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
10. [10] Effects of a WHO-guided digital health intervention for depression in Syrian refugees in Lebanon: A randomized controlled trial. PLOS Medicine (Cuijpers et al.), June 2022 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
11. [11] Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and depressive symptoms in Brazilian emerging adults: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Internet Interventions (Maltoni et al.), 9 July 2025 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.