Therapists' mental health statistics

Updated October 2026

This page is for therapists, counsellors and other mental health professionals. Exhaustion, one of the three parts of burnout, is common in the work: one review of thirty-three studies found that 40% of mental health professionals had high emotional exhaustion ¹.

In a survey across six English-speaking countries, most therapists had also been in therapy themselves ². The figures below name the profession, setting and measure each time.

Getting help

If something on this page reflects what you are going through, you do not have to manage it alone. Our guide to finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified, and the TherapyRoute directory lists therapists in many countries.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide gives free services by country. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Burnout in the profession

Burnout has three parts: exhaustion, distance from the people you work with, and a lower sense of achievement ¹. Our article on compassion and burnout looks at how caring for others can wear you down.

• Across thirty-three studies of mental health professionals, 22% had high depersonalisation, a sense of distance from the people they work with. (pooled from prevalence studies, at one point in time, published 2018, study years not stated) ¹
• Across thirty-three studies of mental health professionals, 19% had a low sense of personal accomplishment at work. (pooled from prevalence studies, at one point in time, published 2018, study years not stated) ¹
• Among psychologists at one academic medical centre in the Southwest in 2020, during the pandemic, 48.4% met the criteria for burnout. (survey, at one point in time, 2020 data) ⁶

By country and setting

These figures use different burnout and distress measures, in single services and national samples. Read each with its label and do not rank them. Tertiary hospitals are large specialist hospitals.

Secondary trauma and threats at work

Hearing about trauma, and threats from patients, take a toll ⁴. Secondary traumatic stress is the strain that comes from hearing about clients' trauma. Our article on vicarious trauma and burnout explains how this strain builds up and what helps.

• Among male substance-use therapists in Norway in an online survey, 32% reported secondary trauma, compared with 19% of female therapists. (survey, at one point in time, published 2019, fieldwork year not stated) ⁴
• Among substance-use therapists in Norway in an online survey, more than 72% had been directly threatened by a patient. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2019, fieldwork year not stated) ⁴

After a patient's death

An NHS trust is a public body that runs health services in one area. If a patient's death is weighing on you, talk to your supervisor or a colleague you trust. Psychotherapists in Germany who had lost a patient to suicide rated peer consultation and team colleagues as very helpful more often than supervision or case discussions ¹¹. If you are struggling yourself, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide covers many countries.

• In an online survey of psychotherapists in Germany, including trainees, who had lost a patient to suicide, 50% rated peer consultation as very helpful. (survey, helpfulness rating, 2023-2024 data) ¹¹
• In an online survey of psychotherapists in Germany, including trainees, who had lost a patient to suicide, 53.8% rated support from their own team colleagues as very helpful. (survey, helpfulness rating, 2023-2024 data) ¹¹
• Among clinicians in one NHS mental health trust in the United Kingdom who had lost a patient to suicide, 53% reported a moderate impact on them, and 12% a severe impact. (survey, lifetime (ever), 2024 data) ³
• Among clinicians in one NHS mental health trust in the United Kingdom who had experienced another kind of patient death, 36.6% reported a moderate impact, and 4.2% a severe impact. (survey, lifetime (ever), 2024 data) ³
• Among social workers, mental health counsellors and psychologists in the United States surveyed before a training on coping after suicide loss, 64.1% had experienced at least one suicide loss. (survey published 2026, fieldwork year not stated) ¹²

Therapists in their own therapy

Personal therapy is common across schools of therapy, and more common in some than others ².

• Among analytic and psychodynamic therapists in six English-speaking countries, 94% had been in personal therapy at least once. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ²
• Among cognitive behavioural therapists in six English-speaking countries, 73% had been in personal therapy at least once. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ²
• Among novice psychotherapists in six English-speaking countries, 82% had already been in personal therapy, rising to 89% of senior therapists. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ²

How to read these figures

Studies measure burnout with different tools. A pooled figure combines the results of several studies. Each pooled figure is one part of burnout, not a burnout rate.

Several studies sampled one service or one organisation, and some ran during the pandemic.

Supervision, peer consultation and your own therapy are there for you as much as for your clients. If you want a therapist of your own, our guide on finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Therapists' mental health statistics. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/therapists-mental-health-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 26 October 2026.

References

1. [1] Burnout in mental health professionals: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence and determinants. European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists (O'Connor K et al.), 2018 europepmc.org.
2. [2] Utilization of personal therapy by psychotherapists: a practice-friendly review and a new study. Journal of clinical psychology (Orlinsky DE et al.), 2011 europepmc.org.
3. [3] The impact of patient death and suicide on mental health professionals: mixed-methods study. BJPsych open (Meshreky KM et al.), 2026 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
4. [4] Secondary traumatic stress in Norwegian SUD-therapists: Symptoms and related factors. Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT (Johansen AB et al.), 2019 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
5. [5] The interplay among burnout, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in Chinese clinical therapists. Scientific reports (Gu M et al.), 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
6. [6] Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Descriptive and Predictive Data from a Survey of Psychologists at a Single Academic Medical Center. Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry (Trombello JM et al.), 2022 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
7. [7] Psychological distress among community-based mental health professionals in Ghana: prevalence and contributing factors. Discover mental health (Bonsu AS et al.), 2025 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
8. [8] An assessment of psychological distress and professional burnout in mental health professionals in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (Northwood K et al.), 2021 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
9. [9] Burnout syndrome in mental health workers belonging to the Public Provincial Network in the city of Córdoba, Argentine. Vertex (Buenos Aires) (Chiri S), 2026 europepmc.org.
10. [10] Mental Health of Psychologists During a Period of Cumulative Crises in Lebanon. Healthcare (Basel) (Bou Debs R et al.), 2025 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
11. [11] The impact of patients suicide on the mental health of psychotherapists. Scientific reports (Siebert A et al.), 2026 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
12. [12] Characterizing Postvention Suicide Loss Management Strategies Among Mental Health Clinicians in the United States. Archives of Suicide Research (Oakey-Frost N et al.), 2026 europepmc.org.