ONLINE PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY, COVERED BY INSURANCE
Online Psychodynamic Therapy For The Patterns Underneath
Some problems are not about this week; they are about a pattern with a long history. Octave offers online treatment with licensed therapists trained in psychodynamic therapy, matched to you in 1 to 3 days, with most members paying $28 or less per session with insurance.
1,200+
Therapists
In-network
with major carriers
3,400+
Licensed Therapists
$28
Typical Out-Of-Pocket Per Session, In Network
1 to 8
Days To A First Appointment
Insurance
We Work With Major Carriers
Clients only pay $28 per session, on average. How is this possible? Octave works with you and your insurance provider to secure the best coverage for therapy and make high-quality care accessible.Did you know?
Got an HSA or FSA? You can also use your pre-tax funds to pay for therapy.
Insurance Coverage
Save time and money
Know the cost of therapy before you start. Discover how much your insurance will cover for therapy with Octave. Simply select your state and insurance provider to see any out-of-pocket costs.
How it works
4 steps to start therapy
Step 01
Answer a few questions
Tell us a little about yourself and what you're looking for. You'll get an idea of your cost (if any) after answering.
Step 02
Find the right therapist
Browse licensed Octave therapists or work 1:1 with our team to find a match for your needs and schedule.
Step 03
Start therapy
Schedule your sessions and build a care plan with your therapist that measures progress.
Step 04
See results
Care is grounded in measurable outcomes, with tailored techniques to support real improvement in anxiety, depression, and other concerns.
Get seen by an Octave therapist within 1-8 days.
Provider credentialing section
Less than 4% of therapists who apply join the Octave network.
Every clinician is independently licensed, masters- or doctorate-trained, and reviewed for clinical fit before they see a single client.
3,400+
Therapists in network
Independently licensed across all 50 states
100%
License verified
Active state licensure confirmed quarterly with the issuing board
3.8%
Acceptance rate
Clinicians pass a multi-stage interview, case review, and reference check
10 yrs
Average experience
Median post-licensure clinical practice in the network
Outcomes and clinical evidence
A clearer alternative to the typical referral grind.
94%
report meaningful improvement within 12 sessions
Octave outcomes report, 2024 (n=18,400)
71%
show clinical reduction in PHQ-9 depression scores
Octave outcomes report, 2024 (n=18,400)
82%
remain in care at 6 months — well above industry average
Octave outcomes report, 2024 (n=18,400)
Published research
Meta-analysis
Andersson, G., et al. (2019).
Internet-delivered psychological treatments: from innovation to implementation.
World Psychiatry, 18(1), 20–28.
RCT
Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012).
The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427–440.
Outcomes
Lambert, M. J. (2017).
Maximizing psychotherapy outcome beyond evidence-based medicine.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 86(2), 80–89.
Comprehensive Review
Smith, J., et al. (2021).
Digital mental health interventions: bridging the gap between research and practice.
In our clients’ own words
Our success is measured by the satisfaction of the clients we serve. See what some of them have to say about their experience.
Your unique path
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
After their first therapist session, 9 in 10 Octave clients say that their therapy experience has been good or better.
Octave Patient
Frequently Asked Questions
Online Psychodynamic Therapy, Answered
Some patterns outlast the coping skills. Here's what psychodynamic therapy is, what it's good for, and how long the deeper work usually takes.
Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented talk therapy that works on the patterns underneath your symptoms: how early relationships shaped what you expect from people, what you push out of awareness and at what cost, and why the same situations keep finding you. Where skills-based therapies target the what, psychodynamic therapy targets the why, on the premise that a pattern you can see running loses its automatic power.
No, though they share a family tree. Psychoanalysis is the classical form: multiple sessions a week, often for years, historically with the couch. Psychodynamic therapy is its modern, practical descendant: usually weekly, face to face, engaged and conversational, with the same interest in what is underneath and a format that fits an actual life.
Psychodynamic therapy has solid evidence for depression and anxiety, and it particularly suits what shorter therapies leave unfinished: relationship patterns that repeat across different people, chronic self-criticism, a success that never feels like enough, or symptoms that returned after a course of CBT helped for a while. If your question is less “how do I cope this week” and more “why does this keep happening,” this is the approach built for it.
Yes. Meta-analyses show psychodynamic therapy produces effects comparable to other evidence-based treatments, with one distinctive finding: the gains tend to persist and often continue growing after therapy ends, consistent with the idea that the work changes the pattern, not just the symptom.
Longer than skills-based courses, honestly: months rather than weeks, sometimes longer, because rebuilding a lifelong pattern is slower than learning a technique. Time-limited psychodynamic formats also exist, and length is something you shape with your therapist openly rather than discover by surprise.
Yes to both. The work lives in the conversation and the therapeutic relationship, which video carries fully. Most Octave members pay $28 or less per session using in-network insurance, and you can confirm your cost with the cost estimator before booking.
More On Online Psychodynamic Therapy
How Psychodynamic Therapy Works
Psychodynamic therapy works on a simple observation with deep roots: the strategies you built to survive your earliest relationships are still running, long after they stopped serving you. The person who learned to earn love through achievement still cannot rest; the one who learned conflict means abandonment still cannot say no. These patterns run automatically and mostly out of view. The therapy brings them into view, and patterns you can see stop being destiny.
What psychodynamic therapy sessions look like
Sessions are open conversations with a direction, not an agenda. Recurring themes get noticed across weeks: what you dream about, what you avoid, what you joke about instead of saying. Three things distinguish the work:
Patterns over incidents: this week’s argument matters as the newest instance of an old shape.
Defenses taken seriously: the ways you protect yourself made sense once, and the question is what they cost now.
The relationship as data: what plays out between you and your therapist often mirrors the pattern being worked on, and talking about it directly is some of the most useful work there is.
It is slower than a skills course and reaches things a skills course cannot.
The evidence for psychodynamic therapy
Modern psychodynamic therapy is an evidence-based treatment, with meta-analyses showing outcomes comparable to other established therapies for depression and anxiety. Its distinctive finding is durability: effects tend to hold and often grow after treatment ends, which is what you would expect from changing the pattern rather than managing the symptom. It has long since left the caricature of the silent analyst behind.
Who psychodynamic therapy fits best
This approach fits people who keep arriving at the same place by different routes: the third relationship with the same ending, the familiar collapse after every success, the anger or numbness that predates any current cause. If you want structured weekly skills instead, CBT or DBT will serve you better, and many therapists blend depth with structure. Tell your Care Navigator what keeps repeating, and they will match you with a therapist in 1 to 3 days.
If you need help right now
Crisis resources.
Octave is not an emergency service. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
24/7, free, confidential — call or text
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME — 24/7 trained counselors
National DV Hotline
24/7 confidential support
Veterans Crisis Line
Press 1 after dialing 988
SAMHSA National Helpline
Treatment referral & info, 24/7
Trevor Project
LGBTQ+ youth crisis support
The pattern has a history. It doesn’t have to have a future.
Online psychodynamic therapy with a matched therapist, covered by most major insurance plans.
Find Your Best Therapist