The Mental Health Price Index 2022 found that South Africans could pay an average R800 for an hour session of therapy, but experts say mental health treatment was far more expensive.
Nearly 50% of South Africans suffer with mental health problems, but most simply stop treatment when their medical aids run dry.Nearly five out of ten South Africans suffer from stress and one in every four from some form of mental ailment, yet the costs of mental healthcare in South Africa are too high for the average worker to get therapy.
With the US placed at number one, indicating they have the best mental healthcare facilities in the world, South Africa managed to place right in the middle, and ranked 25th out of 50 countries with a score of 76.55 out of 100 for mental healthcare provisions and infrastructure. This is due to the training demands for mental healthcare practitioners, with universities having a limit on the number of students who can complete a Masters’ degree to practice psychology, explained psychologist Dr Helena Niedinger.
According to the regulations by the HPCSA, each psychologist can see a maximum of seven patients in a day for a one-hour consultation session, said Mkone, who is registered with both bodies. “That is a considerable amount of time because they need a thorough history in terms of dispensing medication to a particular patient. That is also a huge time constraint and the remuneration of a psychiatrist needs to be in accordance with the time spent with a patient,” she said.
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