There hasn’t been much research done on psychotherapy visit rates, and the most recent data don’t break down visits by age group. To examine the rates and correlations of psychotherapy and psychiatric visits by age/sex and antidepressant/antipsychotic usage, researchers used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 2017-2019. From the total sample of 90,853, 5.2% (95% CI, 4.9-5.4) reported having sought out psychotherapy (not including psychiatric care) in the previous year, and 3.6% (95% CI, 3.4-3.8) reported doing so. After the age of 15, women were more likely than men to seek out psychotherapy. The peak age for psychotherapy visits for women was between 15 and 30 years old; for men, it was between 10 and 25 years old. Males had higher rates than females for psychiatric hospitalizations before the age of 13, were on par with females during their teenage years, saw a decline in their rates throughout adulthood, and were on par with females beyond age 60. Unlike psychotherapy rates, psychiatry rates did not show significant age differences. The percentage of people on antidepressants or antipsychotics who also receive annual psychotherapy or psychiatric care is significantly greater in the younger age groups and declines in the older age groups. The population as a whole uses psychotherapy and psychiatry in different ways, with the highest rates of use found among women aged 15–30 and the youngest age groups reporting antidepressants and antipsychotics.
Source: jabfm.org/content/early/2022/09/01/jabfm.2022.AP.210503
