Many factors must be taken into account in considering the cost effectiveness of psychotherapy versus medication, including:
- An emerging body of evidence indicates that psychotherapy reduces long term costs due to fewer symptom relapses
- Psychotropic medications to treat mild to moderate depression, panic disorder, or obsessive compulsive disorder may be less expensive in the short run than psychotherapy, but more costly in the long term due to the long term cost of medication, non-compliance with medication and the continued experience of symptoms, lost productivity and reduced ability to function
- Pharmaceutical companies use targeted marketing strategies to effectively market psychotropic medications to the public as well as to physicians
- The marketing of psychotherapy is limited, compared to that of psychotropic medications. It is marketed by talk show hosts or by media psychologists during the day, when many people are working, or by word of mouth by individuals who have benefited by psychotherapy.
- Companies that manage mental health care may have a financial incentive to encourage medication use in the short term, which may be less expensive up front that psychotherapy, while psychotherapy is likely to be less expensive in the long term.
- Most medical insurance companies are publically traded companies that focus upon short term quarterly profit margins. Their committment to the longer term mental health of consumers varies from strong to minimal.
- Many psychotropic medications do have side effects, such as sexual side effects, that reduce quality of life
- Many people stop taking psychotropic medications due to side effects and continue to experience symptoms