Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses in America, impacting about 19% of the population every year.1 Given the convenience and availability of virtual therapy, online treatment for anxiety has become widely available. You can meet with a qualified psychotherapist, licensed counselor, or psychiatrist from your home. If you have worries about traveling or meeting new people in person, online anxiety counseling is an ideal place to start.
There are a number of talk therapy approaches and drug treatments available that your provider might use to help treat your anxiety. A psychotherapist can offer you, among other treatments, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance commitment therapy (ACT), and exposure therapy.2 Both CBT and ACT teach new thinking patterns to ease anxiety and refocus worries and fears. Exposure therapy empowers patients to face their fears in a controlled environment. If you need medication, you will likely be prescribed either a fast-acting benzodiazepine (like Ativan or Klonopin) or a long-term anti-anxiety drug such as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) (like Zoloft or Lexipro).
Regardless of which treatment option you choose, accessing this kind of care online has never been easier. Here are some of the best options based on our research, which includes a comprehensive survey of 100 users of online therapy companies.
When choosing an online therapy provider, we recommend that you read the company’s privacy guidelines before you sign up to better understand whether it is HIPAA-compliant and whether it shares any private information with third parties. There have been some concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several government officials about what user health information online therapy providers collect and what they do with any information they collect.
Our Online Therapy Methodology
Curious about the extensive work we did to research and evaluate online therapy companies? Take a look at our online therapy methodology.
Best Online Therapy for Anxiety of 2024
- Most Comprehensive: Brightside
- Best for Medication Management/Psychiatry: Talkiatry
- Best Subscription Service: Talkspace
- Best Without Insurance: Open Path Collective
- Best for Teens: Teen Counseling
- Best for Parents: Online-Therapy.com
- Best for Kids: Little Otter
- Best for Group Support: Mindful Care
- Best for the BIPOC Community: Kip Therapy
- Best for Postpartum Anxiety: Thriveworks
- Best Directory: Zencare
Key Specs
- Price: $95-$349 per month
- Is Insurance Accepted?: Yes
- Type Of Therapy: Individual Therapy, Medication Management, Psychiatry
Why We Chose It
Brightside Health provides the holistic, evidence-based care needed to tackle a variety of anxiety disorders from every angle. It uses CBT, the gold standard in anxiety treatment modalities, alongside skill-building self-care lessons and medication when necessary, making it the most comprehensive online therapy company for anxiety treatment.
Pros & Cons
- Psychiatry and therapy available
- Uses the gold standard in anxiety treatment
- Skill-building lessons empower users
- Care is highly specialized
- Clinicians are warm and approachable
- Takes a few days to get an appointment
- No sliding scale available
- Some issues with late clinicians
Our Experience
We had three people try Brightside Health from North Carolina, New York, and California for individual therapy and found the platform to offer effective, evidence-based treatment for people with mild to moderate anxiety. The platform specializes in anxiety treatment and its comprehensive approach helps users calm rumination, worry, tension, obsessive thinking, and more.
We love that the platform uses a gold standard in anxiety treatment: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This approach helps people identify thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that might be driving their anxiety. But Brightside goes beyond CBT and offers tools like symptom trackers and quizzes. Not only did this help us manage our anxiety more effectively, but it also helped us draw the connection between our lifestyle habits and our mental/emotional state.
Therapy is only as good as the providers who offer it, so we’re happy to say the clinicians were highly experienced and knowledgeable. They also maintained a professional demeanor while remaining approachable. That said, one therapist was late to the session and came in with the wrong information about us. That didn’t give us the greatest first impression. Unfortunately, occasional issues like this are commonplace across all online therapy platforms. But despite this small setback, we were overall very impressed with Brightside and its anxiety treatment.
Plans & Pricing
Brightside Health accepts a few major insurance plans, including Medicaid and Medicare, and HSA/FSA payments. Without insurance, out-of-pocket costs depend on which plan you choose.
- Medication only: $95 per month
- Therapy only: $299 per month
- Both medication and therapy: $349 per month
What Users Say
We surveyed 100 users of Brightside:
- 98% rated Brightside as good, very good, or excellent overall
- 99% rated their therapist’s qualifications as good, very good, or excellent
- 93% said that most or all of their needs were met at Brightside
- 99% are likely or very likely to recommend Brightside to a friend or someone like them
- 78 people were seeking treatment for anxiety