To ask if this is normal cost for clinical psychologist

[kizziee]

I think I was probably being very naive.
Cost is £375 for initial one hour session then £190 for follow ups.
In south East.
Does that look right ?

That's very helpful. Thank you @Brieandme

I’ve been seeing a chartered clinical psychologist on and off over the last year. I am based near Winchester and pay £110 per hour. Our meetings are face to face, but I’ve done a couple of phones ones when I can’t get to her.

At first I saw her every week, then after 8 sessions I had a break, then a few 2weekly sessions, then another break. I’ve seen her 3 times since Jan 2023.

She is helping me with anxiety etc surrounding my divorce from a controlling ex.

I see a psychologist; it costs £100 an hour, and I thought that was expensive (but worth it for me). North East England.

Does it have to be a psychologist you see? Or are there therapists that can do similar? Though I must admit my psychologist has been excellent, if you can afford it x

And it’s hard to work full time client facing hours due to the mental/admin load.

I know someone who is one, she charges £125 p/h for therapy.
Legal work around capacity issues, court reports etc is a lot more.

In a well heeled area but not the south east.

That's ridiculous. How long til your appt. If you can get out of it do. Some psychs charge a fortune because they want to earn a fortune .. not because its the going rate.

100-150 an hour maybe.

Some people might call it a racket

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and info. I feel more clear about it all now.

London-based clinical psychologist here with over 20 years experience. That assessment fee is astronomical; I don't know any psychologists who charge that unless they have very specialist skills e.g. ADHD/autism assessments etc. For typical adult mental health therapy that is off the scale. £190 per session thereafter is also steep. As others have said £150-ish is typically in my experience. I've noticed some clinical psychologists (not long out of training) are setting themselves up privately with a business name. They then call themselves 'the director' (even though they'll be hardly anyone else in the company) and charge more for the privilege of seeing them e.g. £250. Bottom line: you can get great therapy/see top notch clinical psychologist for much much less than the person you've been recommended. Some of the responses on here are a bit odd. Of course, people see clinical psychologists on a regular basis - we're trained therapists and for most clinical psychologists, therapy is their bread and butter. Also that idea that we charge vast amounts to recoup the cost of our training etc is also a bit odd. We actually get paid to become clinical psychologists i.e. a salary. We also typically get paid when we do work experience before we start our training and obviously after we qualify. Our ongoing professional costs are by no means astronomical relative to the amount we're able to charge.

"Totally my own fault but I can't get out of the initial session without having to pay now anyway"

You can. Seriously, just don't turn up and don't pay - they may send you a few grotty emails but they almost certainly won't chase it further.

I know these specialists are highly qualified, in demand & important but wtf set these prices for their skills?

You could easily pay that for a senior lawyer or accountant in Central London; but that’s paying for the high office costs, staff training, and all the admin support, etc too!

Why can't you cancel the appointment? Even if it's today, just call or email and tell them that you simply cannot afford the cost of the session.

There is no point going to the initial assessment and paying 400 quid if you then can't go to the follow up sessions.

If they get shitty I would remind them that you have depression and anxiety and being pressured to attend the session that you can't afford is not helping matters!

Thank you so much for the additional replies.
You've made me feel less stupid for questioning it.