Let’s talk about why therapists are miserable!

Being a therapist can be an AMAZING way to make a living.

It’s often ranked one of the best jobs out there for pay, flexibility, and creativity.

Therapists are supposed to be happy, mentally healthy people, right?

The unfortunate truth is that while I think being a therapist is one of the best jobs in the world, there are some significant challenges to being a therapist that you may not be aware of.

So if you’re thinking of being a therapist, keep reading to make sure it’s still right for you.

And if you are a therapist, let me know if you agree!

Reason #1 therapists are miserable: Student loans.

When people think about becoming therapists, the first thing that comes to mind is not taking on six-figures of student loan debt! And yet the unfortunate reality is that graduate programs that train therapists are really pricey. When I completed my doctorate degree I did not have a good grasp on the impact student loans would have on me. I graduated with $150,000+ of debt and my monthly payments at their worst were over $2,000 a month. At times this was about half of my entire income, and more than my monthly rent!

Even if you’re making a great living, this is a big expense to take on and can really make things difficult if you want to eat more than just instant noodles every day. It was really difficult to make the payments so I ended up refinancing to make the payments more manageable, but it’s still over $500 a month.

Reason #2 therapists are miserable: Admin.

Therapists have to deal with a LOT of annoying paperwork and bureaucracy. One of the most notorious hassles therapists struggle with are insurance companies. Whether you’re trying to join an insurance company panel to offer in-network therapy to clients, or you’re trying to collect payment for those clients, you can expect that it isn’t always a walk in the park. You’ll need to be extremely patient (or hire additional help) to manage all the admin issues that may come up.

The second admin issue that I know I wish didn’t exist is record-keeping. Therapists are required to maintain notes on the work that we do with each client for every session. But with only 5-10 minutes in between each client to drink water, go to the bathroom, AND take notes, we usually end up needing to catch up on at least a few notes at the end of the day. Nearly every therapist knows the pain and anxiety of having a bunch of notes to catch up on, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Unfortunately other than getting more efficient at writing notes, there’s really no easy way around it.

Reason #3 therapists are miserable: They’re overworked.

Therapists may be overworked for a few different reasons. One is that the demand for therapy has increased since the pandemic and there aren’t enough therapists to meet the need.

Another reason, is that when therapists work for agencies or companies, they may be pressured to see an unreasonable number of clients in a given week. They may be receiving relatively low compensation for the number of hours they are working.

Third, therapists sites that hire therapists as contractors to work in telehealth are notorious for offering poor compensation for therapists that rely on their marketing support.

Reason #4 therapists are miserable: marketing.

As a therapist in private practice, all the pressure is on you to keep your business afloat, which is pretty intimidating considering that many therapists receive little to no marketing training in grad school. Marketing may not feel natural or easy for therapists who’ve never been trained in it. Many of us got into the mental health field because we want to help people, not because we love selling ourselves.

Another marketing behemoth that can make therapists feel overwhelmed is social media. How can we market our practices without necessarily having to shake our booties on TikTok? (No shade to therapists who dance or create funny content btw, I LOVE your stuff, it’s just not what comes naturally to me!) Therapists shouldn’t have to be professional choreographers or comedians to benefit from the marketing machine that social media offers, but many of us have no clue how to go about it.

Reason #5 therapists are miserable: The stress of being a solopreneur.

Working for yourself can be so liberating, but can also bring its own unique challenges. It’s tough to take a vacation when you work for yourself. There’s no one to cover you when you’re sick when you are a staff of one. Being your own boss can feel lonely and isolating. In order to overcome this, solopreneurs must find ways to get support from peers and other entrepreneurs. For me, social media has helped me to feel like I’ve got other people who are in it with me.

Despite all these hardships, I absolutely love being a therapist.

I love feeling like I make a difference in people’s lives.

I love getting to celebrate my client’s wins.

I love seeing miracles happen every day.

I love having the freedom of working for myself.

I love getting to help destigmatize mental health through my social media efforts.

I love getting to educate on mental health.

To me, despite these headaches, getting to do what I do is 100% worth it. I am grateful everyday for getting to live my dream life of helping people while I earn a living and travel the world as a remote therapist. I never have to sacrifice travel for money again. I never have to commute to an office.

I’ve come a long way from 4 hours of traffic in LA…

It’s a good life!

So what do you think? Is being a therapist worth it when there are some significant challenges?

IF you’re a therapist who is interested in building your practice to give you a life that you 100% love, I’d like to share some encouragement and tips with you. If I can make it happen, so can you! To join my therapist support newsletter, click here.

Also, if you’re interested in branding your new biz or rebranding your old biz, check out my course on Branding where you can get my free download - the 5 biggest branding mistakes therapists make.

PS- be sure to check out my YouTube video on

Why Therapists Are Miserable if you haven’t already.

BTW, my mission is help people love their lives so they never want to leave them.

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