The 7 Best Online Therapy Companies That Treat OCD

Paying for Online OCD Therapy

Many of the online therapy companies on this list, such as Online-Therapy.com, Wellnite, and Brightside, are subscription-based: this means that you will pay a set amount each month for services. But if the company is in-network with your insurance plan, you’ll only be responsible for your copay for each session—only one online therapy company on this list (Online-Therapy.com) does not accept insurance.

Things work a little differently for the online directory Open Path Collective, because that service is based on sliding scale fees, where the therapists listed offer sessions for between $30 and $80 per session; because these fees rival copay amounts, those therapists do not accept insurance.

Medication and OCD Therapy

Antidepressants (specifically SSRIs) are often prescribed to treat OCD, but it is also possible (and in many cases, just as effective) to treat OCD with talk therapy only. But if you are interested in trying medication to treat your OCD, Talkiatry, Brightside, Thriveworks, and Wellnite employ psychiatrists who can prescribe medication. Be aware, though, that it can take weeks for antidepressants to take effect, and there might be negative side effects. Keep this in mind when talking to your therapist or psychiatrist about medication for OCD.

How I Review Online Therapy Services

I’ve spent years testing and surveying real therapy users and reviewing their experiences to help rate and share the best online therapy services. You can see a full breakdown of our online therapy research and testing process on Verywell Mind. Here is an overview of how I capture and evaluate firsthand experience and survey data.

Firsthand Experience

I had 65 different people sign up for talk therapy with all 55 online therapy companies reviewed. Over the past three years, I’ve published 155 reviews (here are our reviews for BetterHelp and Talkspace, for instance). I had my testers try out each company’s therapy services, and if the company offered other services (like couples therapy and kid or teen therapy) we tested those too. 

I asked each tester to try each service for at least a month, which usually meant between two and six sessions at each company. I also asked testers to switch therapists partway through, if possible, in order to get a holistic idea of the offerings and quality of each company. My testers were located all across the United States and abroad, meaning I gained extensive information about each company’s services in a variety of areas.

Evaluating OCD Treatment

To compile this list, I looked for online therapy companies that say they specialize in OCD or claim that they treat OCD. I then evaluated those companies based on the services they offer and any relevant reviews from testers living with OCD.

User Surveys

I surveyed more than 8,000 therapy clients who are currently using one of the 55 online therapy companies tested or who had used one in the recent past, as well as users of 27 different online therapy directories. I asked users to evaluate each company’s services, from their therapist’s qualifications to whether they found a therapist who met all their needs to how they’d rate the company overall—all told, I gathered 350 different data points. 

Why Trust Verywell Mind

Hannah Owens is Verywell Mind’s Mental Health Editor. Hannah is a licensed social worker with a clinical background in community mental health. She’s worked at programs treating those with serious mental illness, providing both individual and group therapy. In her time at Verywell Mind, Hannah has designed and run years of online therapy testing, overseeing and editing reviews of the top online therapy companies out there and writing and editing roundups of the best online therapy services based on our extensive and thorough testing. Hannah brings her unique combination of both clinical and editorial expertise to her work for Verywell Mind.

• Licensed social worker since 2019
• Clinical background in community mental health
• Specializes in serious mental illness
• Believes in the mission of online therapy to make mental healthcare more accessible