BetterHelp Lost 97% In 3 Years...What Happened?
Summary
TLDRBetterHelp, a major player in online therapy, faced significant backlash after being exposed for using unqualified therapists, mishandling user data, and exploiting vulnerable users. Despite the controversy, the company has resurfaced with aggressive marketing efforts. Although BetterHelp claims improvements, users and experts still report concerns about the quality of therapy provided. Further, the company was found to have shared sensitive user data with advertisers, leading to a $7.8 million fine. While the service aims to make therapy more accessible, critics argue that BetterHelp prioritizes scale over quality care.
Takeaways
- đ BetterHelp faced significant backlash for exploiting vulnerable users, using unqualified therapists, and selling sensitive user data.
- đ„ The scandal caused a massive exodus of users, plummeting their parent company's stock by 97%.
- đ Despite this, BetterHelp has made a strong comeback, sponsoring more creators and launching aggressive marketing campaigns.
- đŹ BetterHelp's initial appeal was its flexibility, offering cheaper, remote therapy through text, video, or call options.
- đ Users reported inconsistent therapist quality, with complaints about unprofessional behavior and therapists being distracted or unqualified.
- đ BetterHelp was criticized for not properly verifying therapist qualifications and initially placing the burden of verification on users.
- đ The company was caught selling users' private mental health data to third-party advertisers, sparking further outrage.
- âïž The U.S. Federal Trade Commission took action against BetterHelp, ordering a $7.8 million refund to 800,000 patients and banning data sharing for advertising.
- đ BetterHelp's marketing push in 2024 seems like a last effort to survive, as their user base has been steadily declining.
- đĄ While the concept of BetterHelp is promising, its execution has been flawed, prioritizing market dominance and scale over the quality of mental health care.
Q & A
What were the initial controversies surrounding BetterHelp?
-BetterHelp was exposed for exploiting vulnerable users, using unqualified therapists, and selling sensitive user data. These issues led to a significant backlash, with tens of thousands of users unsubscribing and their parent company's stock plummeting by 97%.
How did BetterHelp's model initially seem beneficial to users?
-BetterHelp appeared to make therapy more accessible and affordable. It allowed patients to sign up, get matched with a therapist, and have sessions via call, text, or video, making it more flexible than traditional therapy options. It also offered the option to switch therapists at no cost, making therapy more convenient and user-friendly.
What issues did users report about their experiences with BetterHelp therapists?
-Many users reported unprofessional and inappropriate behavior from therapists, such as being late to sessions, trying to sell personal products like books, and displaying inattentive behavior like cooking or shopping during sessions. Some therapists provided unhelpful advice or displayed insensitivity, which caused distress to users.
Why was BetterHelp criticized for employing unqualified therapists?
-BetterHelp was criticized because they did not guarantee the verification of the therapists' qualifications, skills, or credentials. According to their terms, it was the responsibility of the users to verify if the therapists were qualified, which caused concerns about the quality and reliability of the therapy provided.
What actions did the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) take against BetterHelp?
-The FTC took action against BetterHelp for sharing users' personal health information with third-party advertising platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Criteo without providing proper notice to consumers. As a result, BetterHelp was ordered to pay $7.8 million in refunds to 800,000 patients and was forbidden from sharing consumers' personal information for retargeting.
How did BetterHelp's marketing strategy change after the controversies?
-Despite the controversies, BetterHelp launched an aggressive marketing campaign, sponsoring more YouTube videos and podcasts than ever before. For example, in March 2024, they spent $8.2 million on podcast advertising, indicating their efforts to rebuild their brand and regain market share.
Did BetterHelp improve the quality of their service after the controversies?
-While BetterHelp increased the number of therapists from 16,000 in 2021 to 34,000 in 2024, the quality of the service remained a concern. Some users reported that therapists were still unprofessional, distracted, or unprepared, and the overall focus seemed to be on expanding rather than improving the quality of care.
What concerns did BetterHelp's data practices raise regarding user privacy?
-BetterHelp was found to be sharing users' personal data with advertisers, such as how often they used the app or booked appointments, which violated the expectation of confidentiality common in traditional therapy settings. This caused significant outrage as therapy details are typically considered highly private and sensitive.
Why is BetterHelp's marketing strategy seen as problematic?
-BetterHelp's marketing strategy portrays their service as a complete replacement for traditional therapy, even though their own terms acknowledge that their services might not be suitable for every situation. This could mislead individuals into using their platform when in-person therapy might be more appropriate for their needs.
What is the core issue with BetterHelp's approach according to critics?
-Critics argue that BetterHelp prioritizes scaling and market dominance over providing quality care. The company appears to be more focused on growing its user base and increasing profitability, rather than ensuring that clients receive high-quality, effective therapy, which undermines the potential benefits of accessible mental health care.
Outlines
đ The Scandal Behind BetterHelp
BetterHelp, one of the largest YouTube sponsors, was exposed for unethical practices, including using unqualified therapists and selling user data. This scandal led to a massive backlash, including a 97% crash in their parent company's stock. Despite the controversy, BetterHelp has returned, sponsoring more creators than ever before. However, questions about their quality remain, especially as mental health issues rise and traditional therapy becomes increasingly inaccessible.
đ The Comeback of BetterHelp
BetterHelp has reemerged with a stronger marketing strategy despite their troubled past. In 2022, they sponsored 392 YouTube videos, but by 2024, this number had jumped to almost 2,000. They have drastically increased their number of therapists, from 16,000 in 2021 to 34,000 in 2024. However, the quality of service remains a concern, with stories of inappropriate and unprofessional therapist behavior. Many clients continue to report dissatisfaction, despite the increased scale of operations.
đ Data Privacy Concerns and Legal Issues
BetterHelp has been criticized for selling users' personal and sensitive mental health information to advertisers, including companies like Facebook and Google. Despite the outrage, BetterHelp defended these actions as industry-standard practices. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against them, resulting in a $7.8 million refund settlement. The company is now under restrictions concerning the sharing of consumer health information, but their reputation has been severely damaged.
đ The Problem with BetterHelp's Business Model
Although BetterHelp markets itself as a cheaper and more accessible alternative to traditional therapy, their service falls short in terms of quality. Their therapists cannot diagnose conditions, and their terms of service warn that they are not a replacement for in-person therapy. Despite these limitations, BetterHelp continues to advertise themselves as a solution for mental health needs, prioritizing growth over the quality of care. Financially, their parent company is struggling, and BetterHelp's user base continues to shrink.
đ BetterHelp's Struggle for Survival
BetterHelp is facing declining user numbers and ongoing financial challenges, despite their aggressive marketing strategy. Their parent company, Teladoc, has lost significant value, with shares down over 97% from their peak. While there is potential for growth, BetterHelp's focus on scale rather than quality has damaged their brand. Many believe the company needs to prioritize delivering better mental health care, rather than merely expanding its reach. This remains a critical factor in whether they can bounce back from their self-inflicted damage.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄBetterHelp
đĄTraditional therapy
đĄTherapist quality
đĄData privacy
đĄFederal Trade Commission (FTC) action
đĄOnline therapy
đĄSponsorships
đĄScandal
đĄAccessibility
đĄMarket share
Highlights
BetterHelp was exposed for exploiting vulnerable users, using unqualified therapists, and selling sensitive user data.
The scandal led to tens of thousands of users unsubscribing, hundreds of negative comments, and a 97% stock crash for its parent company.
BetterHelp offers remote therapy options via calls, texts, and videos, making it more accessible and cheaper than traditional therapy.
Many users experienced low-quality therapy, including therapists arriving late or being distracted during sessions.
BetterHelp employed unqualified therapists, and users had to verify the credentials of their therapists themselves.
BetterHelpâs controversial practices came under scrutiny, and they were ordered to refund $7.8 million to 800,000 patients by the FTC.
Despite the backlash, BetterHelp launched a new aggressive marketing campaign, sponsoring thousands of YouTube videos and podcasts in 2024.
In 2024, BetterHelp claimed to have increased their number of therapists to 34,000, up from 16,000 in 2021.
The platform still struggles with quality over quantity, with ongoing concerns about the professionalism of therapists.
BetterHelp was found to have sold sensitive user data to third parties like Facebook and Google for advertising purposes.
BetterHelp violated patient privacy by sharing consumer health data with advertisers, leading to a major FTC investigation.
BetterHelpâs parent company, Teladoc, has seen its stock plummet by 97% from its 2021 peak, reflecting broader financial struggles.
BetterHelp therapists cannot diagnose conditions, but the platform markets itself as a solution, misleading users about its capabilities.
While BetterHelp aims to scale its operations, the company faces challenges in regaining trust due to its damaged brand reputation.
Critics argue that BetterHelp is run by people focused on scaling tech companies rather than those with mental health expertise, leading to misplaced priorities.
Transcripts
betterhelp is one of the biggest YouTube
sponsors of the past decade and was
exposed for exploiting vulnerable users
using unqualified therapists and selling
sensitive user data it seemed like the
Scandal was the end of them with tens of
thousands of users unsubscribing
hundreds of angry comments on videos
sponsored by betterhelp and their parent
company stock crashing
97% but now they're back sponsoring more
creators than ever but are they actually
better anxiety depression and many other
mental health disorders are huge
challenges for many not only that but
they've been on the rise for some time
yet simultaneously traditional therapy
is inaccessible to many people it's
expensive it requires physical presence
and is frankly just less flexible than
what online services usually offer
that's where better help came in they
launched in 2013 and they seemed like a
GameChanger patients signed up and were
matched with a therapist and had
sessions via call text video whichever
they were most comfortable with if they
didn't connect with their therapist they
could be matched to a new one no cost no
hassle not only that but it was cheaper
than most traditional practices meaning
that therapy was now far more accessible
to those who needed it which is great
over the coming years better helps
started building momentum by 2018 they
were sponsoring thousands of YouTubers
and the company exploded in popularity
the pandemic had confined everyone
indoors and demand for remote therapy
was at an all-time high better help
naturally capitalized on this
opportunity by spending more than $7
million on podcast sponsorships in
December of 2020 alone they spent $3
38.7 million in total for 2020 making
them the highest spender on podcasts but
during better help's rise the crack
slowly began to appear here firstly
users started reporting some strange
experiences with their platform many of
which had a common theme my first
therapist um was 10 minutes late to our
10minute meeting our first initial
meeting and then she was like oh wow we
don't have a lot of time and then she
kept trying to sell me her book so I
contacted them and I got a different
therapist he was also late and just
completely missed our first meeting we
second said a second one he missed that
one and then he just texted like oh man
I'm so sorry I was at my other job and I
was just like what the f the quality of
therapists varied wildly some saw their
therapist cooking or shopping mid
session which naturally makes patients
feel uncomfortable one patient after
discussing career goals had her
therapist sent her a patronizing YouTube
video to watch after the session that
told her it's natural to want to do big
things even if it's never going to
happen for you another patient had the
therapist encourag them to put their
baby up for adoption because their
friend really wanted a baby one Reddit
user shared a horrifying experience he
implied that his life was almost perfect
and that I should be like him at a
certain moment he wanted to imply I had
signs of narcissism in me and having
suffered from narcissistic abuse pretty
much my whole life that was very hard to
hear I had never felt this unsafe with a
therapist before he admitted himself to
being a narcissist I couldn't stop
crying and every time I tried to say
something I would cry even more he then
said now you have a one minute to share
your final thoughts before our time is
over thankfully this user received the
therapy they needed outside of
betterhelp however despite their trauma
and only using the service for less than
a week betterhelp only refunded 50% of
the month subscription putting the money
aside though what the hell was going on
there how are so many better help
therapists so awful well as it turns out
betterhelp employed many unqualified
therapists according to them it was the
patient's job to verify if the therapist
was qualified this one says that they
don't guarantee the verification of the
skills degrees qualifications
certification credentials competence or
background of any counselor with better
help you'll be talking to professionals
just beware that it's your
responsibility to determine whether they
are or not it's your responsibility to
determine whether they have any degree
or qualification or certification or all
these things once users learned of this
the controversy exploded betterhelp
quickly remove this from their terms in
2018 but the damage had already been
done the evidence was damning if
vulnerable patients experience horrible
therapy it can very well prevent them
from getting help in the future even
from traditional practices my one
session with a better help therapist ret
traumatized me to the point where I
don't know if I'll ever go back to
therapy again shockingly that's not even
the end of it better help was concealing
another massive problem that caught the
eyes of the US
government somehow better help returned
the company has recently emerged with a
wave of new YouTube sponsorships and a
brand new marketing campaign in Q3 of
2022 they sponsored 392 YouTube videos
one year later they sponsored just under
2,000 videos in March of 2024 alone they
spent $8.2 million on podcast
advertising their marketing strategy is
aggressive as they are determined to
recover their brand image and to claim
back their market share but have they
improved their service well their number
of therapists has increased dramatically
in 2021 they had a total of 16,000
therapists but by 2024 they have 34,000
a massive leap what better help really
needed though wasn't quantity it was
quality betterhelp states that it only
accepts 15% of therapists to apply but
the testimonies are still concerned J it
in 2024 a clinical psychologist tried
the platform as a client and had a
strange experience with their therapist
seemed ill at ease and Unsure how to
proceed she made inappropriate
self-disclosures about her own health
problems when I mentioned the problem
with night eating I saw a weird
expression come across her face and she
mentioned that she struggled with the
same problem without much assessment she
offered solutions that were absurd she
suggested I monitor the night eating and
give yourself a star as a reward he
described that his second therapist
threw out a bunch of tips from her
therapy trick bag and hoped that some
might stick and while they seem like
plausible Solutions she didn't
investigate my experience in detail
enough to know if they could be
appropriate the structure and setup of
the platform may make therapist jittery
pressing them into achieving quick
results and using superficial
interventions another user who tried the
platform stated my therapist was great
but definitely was not 100% present she
seemed distracted but her help still
seems to place an emphasis on quantity
over quality this is bad but it's made
even worse by how better help markets
its service in 2020 the journalism
website Jezebel began investigating
something unsettling as it turned out
better help was taking users extremely
personal information and selling them to
advertisers Jezebel stated that they
began to silently slip data to dozens of
third parties monitoring our Behavior
online and signaling to companies like
Facebook and Google and Snapchat and
Pinterest that we were considering
better better help treatment Facebook
for instance is alerted every time a
person opens the app essentially
signaling to social media company how
often we were going to a session and
when we booked our appointments
betterhelp didn't even deny the
allegations as they didn't see the issue
they stated that their methods were
standard and that they typically far
exceed all applicable regulatory ethical
and legal requirements however this
didn't exactly Comfort users word of
these practices soon spread and people
were outraged this was an immense breach
of privacy many online platforms do sell
user data but this was different
traditional therapy has something called
a patient privilege information shared
between a patient and their therapist is
completely confidential because the
details are extremely personal maybe it
could be argued that app users data is
not technically covered by patient
privilege but it's definitely in gray
area I suppose betterhelp forgot to
mention this in their list of benefits
over traditional practices a storm was
growing around betterhelp and it was
about to get worse the US Federal Trade
Commission took action against
betterhelp and the list of accusations
was damning to capitalize on these
consumer health information betterhelp
handed it over to numerous third party
advertising platforms including Facebook
Pinterest Snapchat and crio often
permitting these companies to use the
information for their own research and
product development as well better help
also failed to provide consumers with
proper notice as to the collect ction
use and disclosure of their health
information the company didn't admit to
any charges but was ordered to pay $7.8
million in refunds to 800,000 patients
which equated to a pitiful $10 per
person most importantly though better
help was forbidden from sharing
consumers personal information for
retargeting among many other
restrictions better help's reputation
was ruined and many YouTubers promoting
them started receiving severe backlash
after this better help went quiet at
least for a while better help better
help better help better help better help
better help better help better help
better help better help better help
better help better Help Therapy can be
expensive and the price of finding a
therapist that you like and connect with
can be overwhelming which is why better
help offers a more affordable
alternative to inperson therapy but
therapy can seem like this big
intimidating thing right well that's
where better help comes in because their
goal is to make therapy less
intimidating and more accessible they
consistently position themselves as the
cheaper more accessible alternative to
traditional practices on their landing
page they list all kinds of benefits you
get with better help which you don't
have at in office practices benefits
include messaging texting phone calls
video calls worksheets and much more the
problem with this is that most of this
is complete nonsense most professional
in office therapists offer most of these
benefits but that doesn't stop better
help from putting a Big Red Cross in all
of these better help isn't a replacement
for traditional therapy in fact they
even say this to themselves our services
may not be appropriate for every
particular situation and are a
substitute for certain mental health
needs that might require in-person
Therapy Services the terms also continue
to say do not disregard avoid or delay
in obtaining in-person care from your
doctor or other qualified professional
because of information or advice you
received through the platform better
helps therapists also cannot diagnose
any conditions even though many are
qualified to do so it's fine for better
help to supplement other health services
it's also fine for betterhelp to not
diagnose patients given that
appointments are overall or text but
better help doesn't advertise themselves
as an addition to existing therapy their
marketing promotes them as the solution
and replacement it leads people into
using their service even if it's not the
best solution for them but that's not
even the end of it if we look at the big
picture something else is going on at
betterhelp betterhelp is actually owned
by another company talloc which hasn't
been doing so hot their shares peaked in
2021 at
$293 and today they are down over 97% to
$8 a share and their income is even
worse the company has burnt billions
getting to where they are and they still
aren't profitable having burnt 1 billion
in the most recent 12-month period we
don't have better help specific
financial data but the data that we do
have is already not in their favor in Q3
of 2023 betterhelp had 459,000 p users
next quarter that dropped to 425,000
then down to 415,000 these numbers
continue to drop in 2024 which
illuminates what's actually happening
with better help their recent surge in
marketing isn't a triumphant defined
return it's a last attempt to survive
the controversy caused an exodus of
users and it seems that better Hub is
struggling to hold on to the rest or
replace the ones that are leaving the
company may have inflicted too much self
harm to bounce back I know this video
has largely been critical of better Hub
but better Hub is a great idea just with
poor execution it solves a lot of
problems and does feel a need but the
company has one massive issue priorities
one doctor put this perfectly better
help has the wrong incentives in mind
and is not run clearly by people who
have expertise in mental health it's
really run by people who have expertise
in scaling tech companies there is a
need for accessible affordable support
but better help has their priorities all
wrong they don't focus on quality or
providing the best care they focus on
scale and dominating the market we can
clearly see this in a recent comment
from teloc CFO better help right now
still has room to grow on the direct
consumer side we have skill I would
expect us to continue to grow and drive
efficient returns and cash flows for
that business better help may very well
have room to grow but they've hurt their
chances by damaging their own brand
better help doesn't need to be bigger it
needs to be better if you're interested
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see you guys on the next one
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