The online mental health and therapy app BetterHelp has soared in popularity in the past few years, claiming to offer affordable therapy to those in need. But while the business has grown in prominence in the creator economy, regularly collaborating with influencers for sponsored posts, content creator Ryan Crouse (@ryanthetwat) took to TikTok to warn his 1.5 million followers of the service.
“Do not do BetterHelp!” he exclaimed in a TikTok, which, as of Sunday, has amassed 1.6 million views. “And let me tell you why. I don’t care if they don’t sponsor me after this video, but do I have a story for you.”
The influencer explained that he had been feeling “downbeat” and decided it was “finally time” to get therapy after wanting a therapist for a number of years.
“But I live in Japan, so it’s really hard to get a therapist here, especially if you’re a foreigner, on top of finding an English-speaking therapist that’s not 500 bajillion dollars,” he said. “So I sought out to do BetterHelp, which is what everyone f***ing does these days, because it seemed perfect. It seemed unreal, like too good to be true.”
After two days on the platform, Crouse booked his first appointment with his therapist, which he said he was “really excited” for. However, during the appointment itself, he described how the therapist made him perform various Chinese acupuncture exercises while saying generic words of affirmation to himself.
“It seemed like some bullsh*t, but whatever.” he continued. “I’m so down bad, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna f*cking try this. But we’re doing this for literally like 30 minutes. And she would go off of camera sometimes and do other stuff, while just trying to come up with things that I should tell myself.”
He continued, “Like, it seemed like she really just did not f*cking care. And it would get to a point that we were doing it for so long that she started repeating the same things that she was telling me to say.”
Despite the unsettling first appointment, Crouse said he persevered and set out to have a second session with the therapist, but decided to change therapists after it became apparent his practitioner kept going off-camera and repeating the same affirmations while appearing to be on vacation in Austria.
But this, Crouse said, caused more issues as deciding to switch therapists meant that he immediately cut off contact with this person, and he explained that the six other therapists BetterHelp offered him didn’t seem like a good match.
“So I told [BetterHelp] to match me with someone, and they’re like, ‘This is gonna take 48 hours.’ I was like, ‘Babe, I literally don’t have 48 hours, this subscription is f*cking ending’ only to be matched with a white woman with dreads.” At this point, Crouse said, he immediately canceled his $300 subscription.
“I was like, I’m not even doing this. I don’t care about my last two sessions,’” he explained, adding in the video description that the experience felt like “300$ down the drain.”
@ryanthetwat betterhelp was $300 down the drain lol
♬ original sound – ryan crouse
The Daily Dot reached out to Crouse and BetterHelp via email.
In the comments section, users were quick to share their own horror stories of the therapy app.
“My therapist watched TV and gave me very generic responses while I was going through the roughest phase in my life,” one recalled. “I could see the TV in her glasses.”
Another shared how their BetterHelp therapist advised them to watch 13 Reasons Why—a drama series about teen mental health that has been widely criticized and described as “harmful” by suicide prevention experts.
“I tried BetterHelp and had a few different therapists, they all seemed untrained and clueless,” a third commenter added.
This isn’t the first time frustrated subscribers have taken to TikTok to vent about BetterHelp. One TikToker claimed that their BetterHelp therapist was late to their session before trying to sell them their book, while another lamented how the platform purportedly charged them before they even got matched with a therapist.
Accredited therapists have also been open about their disdain for the service, with Jeff Guenther (@therapyden) noting in a 2021 TikTok that he disliked what BetterHelp is doing to their industry. Furthermore, Alicia Murray (@therapyformillennials) said in a 2022 TikTok that the company was using bait-and-switch practices and misusing information to get new clients.
