Forum user compares paying a psychiatrist €100 an hour with €10 for someone to listen
A forum post compares paying €100 an hour to a psychiatrist with €10-15 to someone who will just listen. The debate drifted toward loneliness and paid companionship.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Paying €100 an hour just to talk: the business of being heard
Some people pay a psychiatrist €100 an hour to listen to them. Others claim that for €10 or €15 an hour they find someone who not only listens, but also tells them stories. The comparison, posted on a forum, has turned into a debate about the price of professional care and the limits of the companionship market. The trigger was a message accusing psychiatrists of wanting to keep patients "sick" in order to bill more. From there, the conversation branched out: from the cost of private healthcare to companionship services, taking in unwanted loneliness along the way.
The price of professional listening
The first figure that appears is stark: €100 an hour is what, according to the original post, a psychiatrist charges. Against that, there is the option of paying someone between €10 and €15 an hour simply to chat. The math is simple: ten times cheaper. The underlying thesis is that professional care is overpriced and that a cheaper alternative market for listening exists. There is no official data in the material to back up that price average, but the comparison serves to raise an uncomfortable question: how much should it cost to have someone listen to you?
The discussion drifted toward companionship services and sens workers, to whom several posts attribute an informal "psychologist" role. Experiences are cited of people who, after the service, feel better because the conversation afterwards feels therapeutic to them. It is an argument that mixes two different things: paid companionship and professional therapy. The material offers no figures on how many people turn to these services out of loneliness, but it does make clear that the line between companionship and mental health is blurrier than it seems.
Loneliness as a market
One of the most repeated messages is that "nothing in this life is free." The phrase sums up a current of opinion: if you need to talk, someone will charge you for it. The material mentions free telephone helplines, but several participants dismiss them with disdain. The preference for paying someone to listen, even in a service context, suggests that free options are not always perceived as enough. There are no surveys in the material quantifying this preference, but the tone of the posts points to distrust of public resources.
The profile of the clients mentioned is striking: politicians of every stripe and professional footballers. According to one account, they turn to companionship services and, on occasion, use cocaine during the service. These are unverified claims that the material presents as anecdotes. There are no names or evidence, but they serve to illustrate that the market for paid listening knows no ideology or social class. The curiosity about who pays to talk is, in reality, a question about who can afford it.
The care business: who profits?
The central accusation in the original post is that psychiatrists "want patients to stay sick" to make more money. It is a serious claim that the material does not back with data, but it connects with a broader unease: the perception that private healthcare puts business before the patient. There are no billing figures in the material, but the idea that treatment is needlessly dragged out hangs over the whole discussion. Data is missing to confirm or refute it.
Against that view, other posts argue that professional therapy has a value that is not measured only in hours of conversation. Training, legal accountability and the ability to diagnose are hard to replace with a paid chat. The material does not go into technical detail, but it hints that the comparison between a psychiatrist and a companion is, at the very least, simplistic. At this point the discussion stalls: some defend the free market of listening, others remind that mental health is not a simple exchange of words.
The unsettling detail is not the price, but how normal it is assumed to be that loneliness has a rate. While some calculate how much they save paying €10 an hour instead of €100, others point out that there are free helplines nobody calls. The underlying question remains unanswered: if listening is a service, why does it bother us that someone charges for it?
Some people pay a psychiatrist €100 an hour to listen to them. Others claim that for €10 or €15 an hour they find someone who not only listens, but also tells them stories. The comparison, posted on a forum, has turned into a debate about the price of professional care and the limits of the companionship market. The trigger was a message accusing psychiatrists of wanting to keep patients "sick" in order to bill more. From there, the conversation branched out: from the cost of private healthcare to companionship services, taking in unwanted loneliness along the way.
The price of professional listening
The first figure that appears is stark: €100 an hour is what, according to the original post, a psychiatrist charges. Against that, there is the option of paying someone between €10 and €15 an hour simply to chat. The math is simple: ten times cheaper. The underlying thesis is that professional care is overpriced and that a cheaper alternative market for listening exists. There is no official data in the material to back up that price average, but the comparison serves to raise an uncomfortable question: how much should it cost to have someone listen to you?
The discussion drifted toward companionship services and sens workers, to whom several posts attribute an informal "psychologist" role. Experiences are cited of people who, after the service, feel better because the conversation afterwards feels therapeutic to them. It is an argument that mixes two different things: paid companionship and professional therapy. The material offers no figures on how many people turn to these services out of loneliness, but it does make clear that the line between companionship and mental health is blurrier than it seems.
Loneliness as a market
One of the most repeated messages is that "nothing in this life is free." The phrase sums up a current of opinion: if you need to talk, someone will charge you for it. The material mentions free telephone helplines, but several participants dismiss them with disdain. The preference for paying someone to listen, even in a service context, suggests that free options are not always perceived as enough. There are no surveys in the material quantifying this preference, but the tone of the posts points to distrust of public resources.
The profile of the clients mentioned is striking: politicians of every stripe and professional footballers. According to one account, they turn to companionship services and, on occasion, use cocaine during the service. These are unverified claims that the material presents as anecdotes. There are no names or evidence, but they serve to illustrate that the market for paid listening knows no ideology or social class. The curiosity about who pays to talk is, in reality, a question about who can afford it.
The care business: who profits?
The central accusation in the original post is that psychiatrists "want patients to stay sick" to make more money. It is a serious claim that the material does not back with data, but it connects with a broader unease: the perception that private healthcare puts business before the patient. There are no billing figures in the material, but the idea that treatment is needlessly dragged out hangs over the whole discussion. Data is missing to confirm or refute it.
Against that view, other posts argue that professional therapy has a value that is not measured only in hours of conversation. Training, legal accountability and the ability to diagnose are hard to replace with a paid chat. The material does not go into technical detail, but it hints that the comparison between a psychiatrist and a companion is, at the very least, simplistic. At this point the discussion stalls: some defend the free market of listening, others remind that mental health is not a simple exchange of words.
The unsettling detail is not the price, but how normal it is assumed to be that loneliness has a rate. While some calculate how much they save paying €10 an hour instead of €100, others point out that there are free helplines nobody calls. The underlying question remains unanswered: if listening is a service, why does it bother us that someone charges for it?
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (33 replies).
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