Visitation rates in psychotherapy are poorly understood, and newer surveys lack age-specific detail. Rates and correlations of psychotherapy and psychiatry visits by age/sex and antidepressant/antipsychotic usage were studied using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 2017-2019. Of 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, whereas 3.6% (95% CI, 3.4-3.8) said they had seen a psychiatrist. After the age of 15, females outnumbered males in psychotherapy sessions 3 to 1. Females between 15 and 30 years old had the highest rate of psychotherapy visits, whereas males between 10 and 25 years old had the highest rate. Males had greater rates than females for psychiatric hospitalizations in the adolescent and teen years were on par with girls during the adult years, and were statistically indistinguishable from females after age 60. Unlike psychotherapy rates, psychiatry rates did not show significant age differences. The percentage of people on antidepressants or antipsychotics who receive annual psychotherapy or psychiatric care is significantly more significant in the younger age groups and declines in the older age groups. Females between the ages of 15 and 30 utilize psychotherapy and psychiatry at a higher rate than males of any age group, and younger people (relative to older people) are more likely to report using antidepressants or antipsychotics.
Source: jabfm.org/content/early/2022/09/01/jabfm.2022.AP.210503
