Insured therapy in the Netherlands starts with your GP (huisarts). You need a written referral (verwijzing), dated before your first session and stating a suspected diagnosis. Many people are seen first by the POH-GGZ, a mental health practitioner working inside the GP's own practice, which counts as GP care. Beyond that the huisarts refers you to Basis GGZ for milder difficulties or Gespecialiseerde GGZ for more complex ones.
All insured therapy counts towards the eigen risico, the compulsory deductible, which is €385 in 2026 and higher if you chose a voluntary increase. Only huisarts and POH-GGZ sessions are exempt. If you haven't used other healthcare this year, the opening weeks of insured therapy come out of your own pocket regardless, which narrows the gap between insured and private care considerably.
The basisverzekering covers treatment of a diagnosed condition, and it excludes burnout and work- or study-related stress, couples and family therapy, sex therapy, adjustment difficulties after a separation or a bereavement, mindfulness and coaching. An aanvullende verzekering, the optional top-up policy, sometimes covers part of it, depending on the insurer.
The nationally agreed maximum, the Treeknorm, is four weeks from enquiry to intake and fourteen weeks in total before treatment starts. Around half of people wait longer than that.
Going privately through It's Complicated means no referral, no diagnosis and no queue. You approach the therapist yourself, and the rate on their profile is what you pay.
Counsellor isn't a protected title in the Netherlands, and neither is psycholoog, therapeut or coach. The protected titles are gezondheidszorgpsycholoog, psychotherapeut, klinisch psycholoog and psychiater, which appear in the public BIG-register. Where a therapist on It's Complicated works under one of those titles, we check their BIG registration before they appear.
