Psychotherapy: cost-effectiveness analysis
November 2024: Update to our analysis
We have made a substantial update to our psychotherapy report. This 83 page report (+ appendix) details new methods as well as an updated cost-effectiveness analysis of StrongMinds and Friendship Bench. We now estimate StrongMinds to create 40 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or 5.3 times more cost-effective than GiveDirectly cash transfers). We now estimate Friendship Bench to create 49 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or 6.4 times more cost-effective than GiveDirectly cash transfers).
See our changelog for previous updates.
Summary
We estimate that psychotherapy delivered by lay-people or to groups in low-income countries (LICs) improves affective mental health by 4.3 SDs per $1,000 spent, which is 12 times (95% CI: 4, 27) more cost-effective than monthly cash transfers. The effects are in terms of reducing recipients’ self-reported measures of affective mental health (anxiety and depression) and the costs are the costs it takes an organization to treat a person.
This report is part of our work evaluating the expected and potential cost-effectiveness of interventions. We are currently focussed on studying micro-interventions in low- and middle-income countries. To find out more about the wider project, see Area 2.3 of our Research Agenda and Context.