Posted by badhaircut on January 19, 2004, at 20:06:56
In reply to Why is it not profitable to be a therapist?, posted by pinkeye on January 19, 2004, at 13:32:05
I think the field is "profitable" -- but psychotherapists are just not likely to get rich.
Some numbers:
I've seen a therapist professional liability insurance package on the web priced at $2,500 to $10,000 a year. Office rent for a small suite can be $600-2,000 or more a month (say $8,000-24,000 a year). Receptionist or other 'overhead' costs would also come out of the hourly bill. Add in a professional-school average of $48,000 in student loans (I've heard of over $100,000) http://www.nelliemae.com/library/research_4.html.
There's a recent thread on current hourly rates charged ($65-145): http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031202/msgs/286716.html
"Social workers in private practice earned a median annual income of $55,512 in 2000." And it's been *dropping*. -- http://www.socialworker.com/salaries2003.htm
Somewhere else I've seen MSW therapist average annual income reported at about $33,000.
John Grohol says, "Starting psychologists in clinical work and research generally make somewhere between $30,000 - $40,000. ... After 5-10 years in the field, many psychologists enjoy incomes ranging from $45,000 to $60,000. Few psychologists enjoy significantly higher incomes, especially since the infiltration of managed care in the United States in the 1990s."
-- http://psychcentral.com/library/becoming_psychologist.htmFor a mail-in survey in 1998, 291 PhD-level psychologists reported an average income of $73,000 a year! But it too was said to be dropping. -- http://nationalpsychologist.com/articles/art7981.htm
-bhc
poster:badhaircut
thread:302786
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040116/msgs/302922.html