About the 5W AI Visibility Index — Mental Health & Therapy
What is the 5W AI Visibility Index for Mental Health & Therapy?
The 5W AI Visibility Index for Mental Health & Therapy is a research report that audits which mental health brands—across teletherapy, meditation, employer-benefit platforms, and behavioral apps—are most frequently cited by leading AI engines when consumers ask about therapy, anxiety, depression, and access. The report ranks 25 brands based on their modeled citation share across five major AI engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Note: The index provides directional estimates based on observed retrieval patterns and is intended as a strategic framework, not a definitive search engine measurement.
How many brands and AI engines are included in the Mental Health & Therapy Index?
The index ranks 25 mental health brands and tests their citation share across five AI engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Over 60 consumer prompts were used to model citation patterns. Note: The selection is weighted toward consumer-prompt query patterns and does not cover every possible engine or brand.
What methodology does 5W use to model AI citation share?
5W models citation share using publicly available data, observed retrieval patterns, domain authority, traffic data, structural signals (such as schema and entity markup), and inclusion in the EPR Tier 1 outlet set. Brands are tiered into Leader, Strong, Mid, or Lagging based on aggregate citation share and engine-by-engine variation. The methodology is designed as a strategic framework and is not based on exhaustive query logs. Note: This approach provides directional guidance but may not reflect all real-world search outcomes.
Rankings & Competitive Insights
Which mental health brands have the highest AI citation share?
According to the Q3 2026 report, BetterHelp leads with a 12.6% modeled citation share, followed by Talkspace (10.4%), Calm (7.8%), and Headspace (6.4%). These brands are cited most frequently across the five tested AI engines. Note: Citation share reflects modeled estimates and may differ by engine and query type.
How do the top brands differ in their AI citation strategies?
BetterHelp dominates by producing more mental health content per month than all clinical authorities combined, resulting in high citation share across most engines. Talkspace anchors Tier 1 as a for-profit teletherapy provider. Calm and Headspace are strong in meditation and wellness, with Calm cited for stress and sleep queries. Brightside Health stands out for clinical credibility, especially in Claude, but has lower commercial reach. Note: Brands with high clinical credibility may have lower consumer-prompt citation if their content is not tuned for broad queries.
What are the main differences in how AI engines cite mental health brands?
Each AI engine has distinct citation patterns: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews do not return identical brand citations. For example, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews heavily cite commercial content (BetterHelp, Talkspace, Calm, Headspace), while Claude gives preference to clinical authorities like Brightside, Two Chairs, and Octave. Perplexity surfaces Reddit and TikTok therapy creators, and Gemini highlights YouTube and TikTok therapist content. Note: Brands may need engine-specific strategies to improve their citation share.
What does it mean for a brand to have "recoverable ground" in the AI Visibility Index?
"Recoverable ground" refers to brands whose AI citation share is materially below their commercial position, brand recognition, or product quality. For example, Brightside Health has strong clinical credibility but lower citation in consumer-prompt engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Hims Mental Health and Spring Health also have opportunities to increase their citation share by expanding consumer-facing content. Note: Recoverable ground indicates potential for growth but does not guarantee improved rankings without targeted strategy changes.
Pricing & Engagement Models
What does it cost to run an AI Visibility Index audit for a mental health brand?
Pricing for the 5W AI Visibility Index audit is phase-based. Phase 1 (baseline audit and strategy) is available at a fixed fee of $50,000–$85,000. Phase 2 (content build and expansion) ranges from $70,000–$160,000 per month. A full 12-month program is scoped at $800,000–$1.6 million. Note: These are real ranges and may vary based on brand needs and scope. Phase 1 can be engaged as a standalone project.
What does the 12-week AI Visibility Index program include?
The 12-week program is structured in three phases: Weeks 1–4 (Discovery & Strategy: baseline audit, presence audit, partnership exploration, reputation management), Weeks 5–8 (Build: editorial cycles, content production, therapist partnerships, vet-reviewed content), and Weeks 9–12 (Scale: citation tracking, crisis-readiness protocol, creator programs, competitive benchmarking). Note: The program is customizable and may be adjusted based on client needs. Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics.
Features & Capabilities
What are the main features of the 5W AI Visibility Index audit?
Main features include a baseline AI visibility audit across five engines, presence audits in Psychology Today and Verywell Mind, partnership exploration (e.g., NAMI, TikTok therapists), reputation management audits (including regulatory/FTC exposure), editorial content cycles, vet-reviewed clinical content production, and ongoing citation tracking and reporting. Note: The audit is designed for strategic guidance and may not capture all possible citation factors.
What technical documentation and compliance resources does 5W provide?
5W provides clear security and compliance documentation, including data handling procedures, privacy protection measures, compliance standards, incident response protocols, and customer rights and responsibilities. For regulated industries like health tech, 5W offers clinical trial results, safety data, technical specifications, user manuals, and compliance certificates. Regular transparency reports and customer-friendly security documentation are also available. Note: Documentation scope may vary by engagement; ask for specifics relevant to your sector.
Use Cases & Benefits
Who can benefit from the 5W AI Visibility Index audit?
The audit is designed for mental health brands—including teletherapy providers, meditation apps, employer-benefit platforms, and behavioral health apps—seeking to understand and improve their presence in AI-driven consumer research. It is especially relevant for brands aiming to increase citation share in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Note: Brands with limited consumer-facing content may need additional program phases to see significant lift.
What business impact can brands expect from improving their AI citation share?
Brands that improve their AI citation share can expect increased visibility in consumer research, stronger brand authority, and potentially higher engagement and conversion rates. For example, brands like BetterHelp and Talkspace have achieved dominant citation shares by scaling content production. However, citation share does not guarantee commercial success and may require ongoing investment in content and reputation management. Note: Results depend on execution and ongoing adaptation to AI engine changes.
Competition & Comparison
How does 5W's AI Visibility Index compare to other PR or digital marketing audits?
Unlike traditional PR or digital marketing audits, the 5W AI Visibility Index focuses specifically on how brands are cited by AI engines in response to consumer prompts. It combines public relations, digital marketing, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and proprietary AI visibility research. This approach is tailored for brands seeking to measure and grow their presence in AI-driven buyer research, rather than just traditional media or search engine optimization. Note: Brands seeking only traditional PR or SEO may require additional services beyond the AI Visibility Index audit.
Support & Implementation
How long does it take to implement the AI Visibility Index audit?
The initial Phase 1 audit and strategy typically takes 4 weeks. The full 12-week program includes discovery, build, and scale phases. Implementation time may vary based on brand readiness and scope. Note: Brands with complex needs or limited existing content may require additional time for content development and partnership programs.
What support does 5W provide during and after the audit?
5W provides a dedicated team for onboarding, ongoing reporting, and strategic guidance throughout the audit phases. Clients receive monthly citation tracking, crisis-readiness protocols, and recommendations for ongoing content and partnership programs. Note: Post-audit support and program extensions are available but may require additional engagement.
5W AI Visibility Index · Volume 05Mental Health, Therapy & Behavioral Wellness
Volume 05 · Q3 2026 · Research Report
How AI Engines Cite The Top 25 Mental Health Brands.
A modeled audit of which mental health brands — teletherapy, meditation, employer-benefit platforms, behavioral apps — the AI engines surface when consumers ask about therapy, anxiety, depression, and access. Twenty-five brands ranked. Five engines tested. Recoverable ground identified.
Brands ranked25
AI engines tested5
Consumer prompts60+
CategoryMental Health & Therapy
Executive Finding
The structure of the brand-level citation graph.
BetterHelp and Talkspace dominate brand-level citation in mental health, together accounting for an estimated 23% of modeled citation share. Calm and Headspace anchor the meditation-app layer below them. The employer-benefit platforms — Spring Health, Lyra, Modern Health — are enormous commercially but rank lower in consumer-prompt citation because their content is positioned to HR buyers rather than to consumers. The largest recoverable ground is for clinical-credibility brands (Brightside, Two Chairs, Octave) whose vet-reviewed content rigor exceeds their citation share.
§ 01 — Methodology
How citation share was modeled.
Modeled directional estimates derived from publicly available data, observed retrieval patterns, structural signals, and the corresponding EPR Citation Share Study. Not the output of logged query runs across millions of prompts. Intended as a strategic framework — not a definitive search engine measurement.
01
Engines Modeled
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — the five engines that account for substantively all consumer-prompt AI retrieval today.
02
Brand Universe
Top 25 brands in the category by combined modeled signal across the five engines, weighted to consumer-prompt query patterns.
03
Citation Inputs
Domain authority and traffic data, structural signals (schema, entity markup, training-data inclusion), and presence inside the EPR Tier 1 outlet set.
04
Tier Methodology
Brands tiered into Leader / Strong / Mid / Lagging based on aggregate citation share and engine-by-engine variation. Tier breaks reflect natural inflection points in the data.
Per the corresponding Everything-PR Citation Share Study — Mental Health & Therapy (Issue No. 05), the dominant outlets are Psychology Today, Verywell Mind, BetterHelp editorial, Choosing Therapy, NAMI, and the rising TikTok-therapist layer. A brand's citation share is built primarily through presence inside that specific outlet set — and through clinical-credibility signals (vet-reviewer, peer-reviewed publication) for non-commercial citation lift.
§ 02 — The Ranking
The top 25 Mental Health & Therapy brands by modeled AI citation share.
Rank
Brand · Owner
Position Note
Modeled Share
Tier
01
BetterHelp
Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC)
Largest mental health citation by content marketing scale. Cited across all engines.
12.6%
Leader
02
Talkspace
Talkspace (NASDAQ: TALK)
For-profit teletherapy. Citation share trails BetterHelp but anchors Tier 1.
10.4%
Leader
03
Calm
Calm (private, VC-backed)
Meditation and sleep app authority. Cited on stress and sleep queries.
7.8%
Leader
04
Headspace
Headspace Health (private)
Meditation and corporate wellness. Sister profile to Calm.
6.4%
Leader
05
Cerebral
Cerebral (private)
Psychiatric care + therapy. Citation softened by 2022–23 controversies but persists.
4.2%
Strong
06
Brightside Health
Brightside (private, VC-backed)
Clinical depression-and-anxiety platform. Higher clinical-citation than commercial reach.
3.4%
Strong
07
Spring Health
Spring Health (private, VC-backed)
Workplace mental-health benefit. Cited on benefits and HR queries.
3.0%
Strong
08
Lyra Health
Lyra (private, VC-backed)
Workplace mental-health benefit. Sister to Spring Health.
2.7%
Strong
09
Modern Health
Modern Health (private, VC-backed)
Workplace mental-health benefit. Smaller than Lyra and Spring.
Premium in-person + virtual therapy. Higher clinical citation than reach.
1.5%
Mid
13
SonderMind
SonderMind (private, VC-backed)
Therapy-matching platform. Cited on access queries.
1.3%
Mid
14
Octave
Octave (private)
In-network therapy provider. Cited in Claude on clinical queries.
1.1%
Mid
15
Big Health (Sleepio, Daylight)
Big Health (private)
Clinical-grade CBT apps. Cited on insomnia and anxiety.
1.0%
Mid
16
Ginger
Headspace Health
Coaching + therapy app, now Headspace. Lower aggregate citation.
0.9%
Mid
17
Hers Mental Health
Hims & Hers Health
Women-targeted mental health SKUs. Mid-tier citation.
0.8%
Mid
18
Woebot
Woebot Health (private)
AI-CBT chatbot. Cited on AI-mental-health queries.
0.7%
Mid
19
Wysa
Wysa (private)
AI-mental-health chatbot. Lower citation share than Woebot.
0.6%
Mid
20
Charlie Health
Charlie Health (private)
Intensive outpatient program. Cited on intensive-treatment queries.
0.5%
Mid
21
Equip Health
Equip Health (private)
Eating disorder treatment. Niche citation.
0.4%
Lagging
22
Mindstrong
Mindstrong (private)
Mental-health platform. Smaller citation.
0.4%
Lagging
23
Replika
Luka, Inc. (private)
AI companion. Citation often paired with concerns.
0.3%
Lagging
24
Lightfully Behavioral
Lightfully (private)
Residential mental health. Lower aggregate.
0.3%
Lagging
25
Ahead App
Ahead (private)
Emotional intelligence app. Niche citation.
0.2%
Lagging
§ 03 — Tier 1 Deep Dive
Why the leaders lead.
Analysis of the top brands — what their citation share is built on, where their moats are real, and where the recoverable ground sits even for category leaders.
#1 Brand · Tier 1 Leader
BetterHelp
BetterHelp produces more mental health content per month than every clinical authority combined. The result: dominant citation share in every engine except Claude (which weights clinical authority more heavily). The risk: BetterHelp's 2023 FTC settlement on data-sharing practices is rarely surfaced in AI answers about BetterHelp itself. That asymmetry will not last indefinitely. A reputation-management infrastructure is the highest-leverage 5W investment for the brand.
#3 Brand · Tier 1 Leader
Calm
Calm anchors meditation citation but its mental-health-clinical citation is lower than its brand recognition would suggest. The opportunity is in cross-category citation: Calm's sleep, stress, and anxiety content can win adjacent clinical queries with the right vet-reviewed positioning.
#6 Brand · Tier 1 Leader
Brightside Health
Brightside is the case study of clinical citation exceeding commercial reach. The brand's focus on depression-and-anxiety pharmacology, vet-reviewed by board-certified clinicians, has built citation share in Claude specifically that exceeds peer brands. The recoverable ground is in non-clinical Engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity) where the brand could lift if it expanded its content surface area.
§ 04 — Engine Variation
The five engines do not return identical brand citations.
A brand absent from one engine but present in another may need a different program than a brand absent across the board. Engine-aware strategy matters.
BetterHelp, Talkspace, Calm, Healthline mental health dominate. SERP-mirror.
Gemini
YouTube therapy creators and TikTok therapist content cite heavily.
§ 05 — Recoverable Ground
Where the largest citation lifts are sitting.
Brands with citation share materially below their commercial position, brand recognition, or product quality. The specific paths to recovery — and the order of operations.
Recoverable Ground
Brightside Health
Currently #6 · Path to Top 3
Brightside's clinical credibility is the brand's strongest asset and its citation share in Claude reflects it. The recoverable ground is in ChatGPT and Perplexity, where Brightside competes against BetterHelp and Talkspace on commercial scale rather than clinical depth. A content expansion program tuned for consumer-prompt queries closes the gap.
Recoverable Ground
Hims Mental Health
Currently #10 · Path to Top 6
Hims has built scale around men's health and is extending into mental health. Citation share is growing fast but trails brand reach. A focused mental-health content program — clinical, vet-reviewed, separate from the broader Hims brand — would accelerate the lift.
Recoverable Ground
Spring Health
Currently #7 · Path to Top 4
Spring Health is enormous in workplace benefits but invisible in consumer-prompt citation. The fix is a consumer-prompt expansion: content tuned for individuals asking AI about mental health, not just for HR buyers asking about benefits.
Recoverable Ground
Big Health (Sleepio, Daylight)
Currently #15 · Path to Top 10
Big Health's products are clinical-grade CBT, peer-reviewed, and used inside health systems. Citation share trails clinical credibility. A consumer-facing content build-out would lift the brand into direct competition with Calm and Headspace on insomnia and anxiety queries.
§ 06 — The 5W Playbook
What it takes to move citation share.
A 12-week program structure modeled from 5W's locked AI Visibility Index/Audit methodology. Phase 1 establishes the baseline. Phase 2 builds. Phase 3 scales and measures.
Psychology Today and Verywell Mind editorial cycle
NAMI-aligned content production
TikTok therapist partnership program
Vet-reviewed clinical content production
Substack mental-health writer outreach
03
Weeks 9–12
Scale
Monthly citation tracking + reporting
Crisis-readiness protocol (FTC, state board exposure)
YouTube therapy creator program
Quarterly competitive citation re-benchmark
Phase 2 program scoping
Investment Ballpark
Phase-based scoping. Real ranges. Phase 1 fixed-fee available.
Phase 1$50K–$85K
Phase 2$70K–$160K / mo
12-Month Program$800K–$1.6M
Mental health brands typically require crisis-readiness infrastructure due to regulatory exposure. Phase 1 scoping engagement available at fixed fee.
Want this audit run on your brand?
5W AI Communications runs the AI Visibility Index methodology for clients across Mental Health & Therapy and adjacent categories. Phase 1 scoping engagement available at fixed fee.
Share your brand, category, and competitive set. 5W will route the inquiry with this report as context.
About 5W AI Communications
5W is the AI Communications Firm, building brand authority across the platforms where decisions now happen — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — alongside earned media, digital, and influencer channels. 5W combines public relations, digital marketing, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and proprietary AI visibility research to help clients measure and grow their presence in AI-driven buyer research. Founded in 2003, 5W is recognized as a Top U.S. PR Agency by O'Dwyer's, named Agency of the Year in the American Business Awards®, honored as a 2026 Top Place to Work in Communications by Ragan, and named to Digiday's WorkLife Employer of the Year list. 5W serves clients across B2C sectors — Beauty & Fashion, Consumer Brands, Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Health & Wellness, Travel & Hospitality, Technology, and Nonprofit — and B2B specialties including Corporate Communications, Reputation Management, Public Affairs, Crisis Communications, and Digital Marketing across Social, Influencer, Paid Media, GEO, and SEO. Learn more at 5wpr.com.