Hundreds of teletherapy app users report unresponsive therapists, unfair charges

Talkspace users reported being charged but never matching with therapists

By Julia Ingram February 20, 2022

Teletherapy apps advertise easy access to mental healthcare. But hundreds of users report never hearing from therapists, an analysis of reviews from the Apple App Store shows. 

Reviews of the apps Talkspace and Cerebral since January 2020 stood out: while their reviews include success stories of people who were helped by the apps, they sit alongside a combined estimated 500 users who reported being charged unfairly and 375 who never heard from or experienced long wait times for therapists.  

“No therapists. No responsiveness from anyone. They do not care,” one user wrote about Talkspace, which matches users with licensed mental healthcare providers for video and text counseling. 

To identify the nature of the apps’ negative reviews, over 3,000 reviews for 10 teletherapy apps were scraped from the App Store; roughly 1,500 each from Talkspace and Cerebral. One- and two-star reviews were then analyzed with a machine learning algorithm that predicted whether they fell into one or more of three categories: an unfair charge, unresponsive therapist or an unsatisfactory one. 

Talkspace operates on a subscription service, with users paying per month. But subscribers reported not being able to see a therapist within a month. Feeling like they had paid for nothing, they attempted to get refunds, only to be denied or ignored by customer service. Some users also faced issues with insurance reimbursements, leaving some with heavy costs or forcing them to leave the platforms. 

Others had therapists not show up to appointments or cancel on them. Some had to match with three different therapists before they could receive care. 

Users of Cerebral, which also provides access to psychiatrists who can prescribe medication, reported issues receiving or refilling prescriptions, some with potentially dire consequences. One user reported that when they first started “it was great” and the medications they were prescribed “improved their quality of life drastically.” But when they couldn’t get in contact to renew it under their insurance plan, they didn’t get a response.    

 “I am terrified of what will happen when I run out of medication,” they wrote. “Withdrawals from a strong dose of antidepressants can be catastrophic.”

In at least three reviews, users reported that after their negative experiences, they were experiencing suicidal ideation. 

Again, despite these negative experiences, the majority of reviews for the 10 apps were positive. Talkspace, BetterHelp and Cerebral all have a 4.7 or higher rating on the app store. 

 But the negative reviews mirror issues in traditional forms of therapy: mismatches between patient and therapist, long wait times and expensive charges. They underscore that longstanding issues in mental healthcare aren’t solved with a well-designed user interface or the convenience of video chat. 

“I liken this company to a pig with lipstick,” one Cerebral user wrote in a one-star review. “They can dress it up as much as they want buts it’s really covered in filth.”

This story was done for Data Studio, a class in the Columbia Journalism School. To view the source code and read more about the project, visit the GitHub repository here.