English-Speaking Therapist in Athens.

Athens is easy to love and slow to let you in. Therapy is the one place you can be fully understood. Online, in English, with no connection to the local scene or any Greek record.

Aaron Platt

What is bringing you here?

Depression Anxiety Burnout Impostor
Syndrome Overthinking Self-Sabotage Perfectionism People-Pleasing Expat Issues Loneliness Something else

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In shortOnline psychodynamic therapy in English for people living in Athens: private, paid directly, and built around expat life rather than the Greek public system.

The work

The work I do is relational and pattern-focused. I don't run intake checklists or assign homework between sessions; I pay attention to what happens in the session, the moments when something shifts or goes flat, and the recurring pattern underneath the presenting problem. Most people already know the story of their situation and keep landing in the same place. What's missing is someone watching in real time who can name what's invisible from inside it. More on how I work, and how I work with couples.

Therapy in Athens: a real market with real friction

Athens has the largest English-speaking therapy pool in Greece, and it still fills up. The public system, ESY with EOPYY as payer, covers psychiatry-led care, assessment, medication, hospital services, while sustained public psychotherapy is rare in practice, with long gaps between appointments outside the big cities. Private sessions in Athens usually run 40 to 80 euros, modest by Western European standards, and the experienced English-speaking therapists cluster here and in Thessaloniki and book out. The wider picture of the Greek system and the licensed psychologist title is on my Greece page.

The Athens patterns

The people who come are the internationals Athens never quite absorbs. The shipping and tech professionals on local contracts, the returnees who grew up abroad and find the home country foreign, the partners who relocated for someone else and lost their own thread, and the slow-burn expats who love the city and still feel set apart by the language. There is also the quieter island and small-town population, where English-language depth work effectively does not exist.

Why people in Athens pick online work with me

Three reasons recur. Privacy: I hold no Greek license, bill no Greek insurer, and write nothing into a Greek health record. Fit: my entire practice is people living outside their home country. Logistics: a Greek evening sits comfortably in my US morning, and online work removes the geography for anyone outside Athens. If you need medication, assessment, or a clinician inside the Greek system, I will point you toward it on the free call.

Questions people ask from Athens

How much is private therapy in Athens?

Private sessions in Athens usually run 40 to 80 euros, modest by Western European standards. English-speaking therapists cluster in Athens and Thessaloniki and the experienced ones fill up. My fee is private-pay, billed directly, with nothing entering a Greek health record.

Does the Greek public system cover ongoing therapy?

ESY and EOPYY cover psychiatry-led care: assessment, medication, hospital services. Sustained public psychotherapy is rare in practice, with long gaps between appointments outside the big cities. I work privately, in English, for people who want continuity.

Can I do therapy online from Athens or the islands?

Yes. Outside Athens the English-language options thin out fast, and online work removes the geography. A Greek evening lines up with my US morning hours. I am US-trained and work privately, outside the Greek register.

What people bring to online therapy

The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.

How it works

Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.

Selected research on this approach

My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.

Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091
Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Heim, N., Keefe, J. R., Kisely, S., Luyten, P., Rabung, S., & Steinert, C. (2023). The status of psychodynamic psychotherapy as an empirically supported treatment for common mental disorders: an umbrella review based on updated criteria. World Psychiatry, 22(2), 286-304. PMC10168167

What Clients Say

“I came in thinking I knew what my issues were. I’d been over them a hundred times. But those were just the things I could already see. Aaron helped me notice what I couldn’t, and that’s where everything actually started to change.”

— M.J.

“I didn’t think online therapy could really work. How do you feel a connection through a screen? But I’ve done in-person therapy before, and honestly, I’ve felt more understood by Aaron than by any therapist I’ve sat across from. He listens in a way that’s hard to describe until you experience it.”

— T.L.

“A few years ago I suddenly developed prolonged panic attacks but couldn’t begin to understand what had caused them. Having been in therapy in the past, and being a counseling intern student, I felt I had exhausted my resources trying to figure out “What is wrong with me?” I can honestly say Aaron provides a form of counseling that is difficult to find anywhere else regarding efficacy. Not only has his approach been effective, but he also has provided me a safe space to explore aspects about myself I may not otherwise have felt able to. I cannot recommend him enough as he has helped me feel more myself than ever before.”

— K.R.

“I’d been in and out of therapy for years. Different therapists, different approaches, none of it really stuck. Aaron helped me understand more in a few months than all of them combined. And he talked to me like a normal person, not like all this weird therapy-speak.”

— S.A.

Completely private. No insurance, no diagnosis codes, no health registry, no GP notification, no employer visibility. You pay directly. Your therapy is between us and stays that way. More

Also serving Greece. Greece.

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You do not have to be ready. You do not have to know what to say. A few sentences is enough.