Mental Health Stocks: What Are They?

Mental Health Stocks: What Are They?

Mental health stocks have become a popular investing theme because mental health is now a mainstream healthcare priority with rising demand and rapidly evolving care models. 

The World Health Organization estimates that hundreds of millions of people live with mental disorders globally, while suicide remains a leading cause of death among younger adults. In the United States, national survey data also points to a large treatment market, with tens of millions of adults experiencing mental illness each year.

This scale helps explain why investors increasingly look for exposure to mental health through public companies that deliver care, enable access, provide devices, or develop psychiatric treatments.

What Are Mental Health Stocks?

Mental health stocks are publicly traded companies that earn a meaningful portion of revenue, or are building future revenue potential, from mental health care. This can include:

• Behavioural health services delivered through inpatient facilities and outpatient clinics
• Virtual mental health platforms such as teletherapy and telepsychiatry
• Mental health medical devices such as transcranial magnetic stimulation systems
• Drug developers and biotechs focused on psychiatric conditions, including next generation therapies

Mental health stocks are best understood as a theme spanning multiple business models. A hospital operator, a teletherapy platform, a device company, and a clinical stage biotech do not carry the same risk profile or valuation drivers.

Top Mental Health Stocks By Category

For some investors, the most conservative entry point is through large, diversified pharmaceutical stocks with established psychiatry portfolios, while others prefer more direct exposure via providers, platforms, devices, or higher risk biotechs.

The most useful way to evaluate mental health stocks is to group them by how they generate revenue and what risks drive performance.

Category 1: Behavioural Health Providers And Clinic Networks

Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS)

UHS is often included in mental health stock lists because of its large behavioural health footprint. A UHS fact sheet lists 331 inpatient behavioural health facilities and 16 outpatient behavioural health facilities as of April 2025.

Why Investors Watch It

• Scale and established operations
• Behavioural demand tailwinds

What To Watch

• Occupancy and utilisation trends
• Labour and staffing costs
• Reimbursement and payer mix

Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ: ACHC)

Acadia is one of the most direct behavioural health pure plays in public markets. In its Q2 2025 release, Acadia said it operated 274 behavioural healthcare facilities with around 12,100 beds, serving more than 82,000 patients daily as of June 30, 2025.

Why Investors Watch It

• High exposure to behavioural health demand
• Expansion strategy across beds, facilities, and partnerships

What To Watch

• Legal and regulatory risk, including a Department of Justice settlement tied to allegations involving medically unnecessary inpatient behavioural health services
• Investigation headlines and disclosures related to federal investigative activity and subpoenas
• Facility utilisation, payer mix, and reimbursement stability

LifeStance Health (NASDAQ: LFST)

LifeStance is a major outpatient mental health network providing therapy and psychiatry. It is often discussed as a bellwether for outpatient behavioural care economics. In Q3 2025 results, LifeStance reported 363.8 million dollars in revenue, up 16 percent year on year, and a clinician base of 7,996 clinicians, up 11 percent.

Why Investors Watch It

• Outpatient mental health demand growth
• Hybrid model combining in person and virtual care

What To Watch

• Clinician hiring and retention
• Visit growth per clinician
• Profitability trajectory and payer mix

Category 2: Virtual Mental Health Platforms

Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC) And BetterHelp

Teladoc’s BetterHelp unit is one of the most recognisable names in online therapy and appears frequently in competitor lists. BetterHelp is also a clear example of how direct to consumer mental health can face headwinds. Teladoc reported BetterHelp segment revenue of 236.9 million dollars in Q3 2025, down 8 percent year on year, and it has faced volatility tied to customer acquisition costs and broader platform economics.

A key risk in this category is privacy and compliance. The FTC finalised an order banning BetterHelp from sharing sensitive health data for advertising and required payments related to alleged privacy misrepresentations.

What To Watch

• Customer acquisition costs versus retention
• Shift toward employer and insurance covered access
• Privacy and compliance posture

Talkspace (NASDAQ: TALK)

Talkspace is frequently framed as a teletherapy stock and is increasingly focused on payer covered growth. In Q3 2025 results, Talkspace reported 59.4 million dollars in revenue, up 25 percent year on year, driven by 42 percent year on year payor revenue growth, and 3.3 million dollars in net income.

Why Investors Watch It

• Payer led growth story that is less dependent on consumer advertising cycles

What To Watch

• Pace of payer revenue growth versus consumer revenue trends
• Member engagement and therapist supply
• Margins and operating leverage

Category 3: Mental Health Devices

This category is often overlooked, but for some investors it offers mental health exposure without relying on clinical stage drug approvals.

BrainsWay (NASDAQ: BWAY)

BrainsWay sells Deep TMS systems used for major depressive disorder and other indications. The company states Deep TMS is covered by Medicare and nearly all major private insurers for major depressive disorder, with OCD coverage increasing across insurers. BrainsWay also announced FDA clearance for an accelerated Deep TMS protocol for major depressive disorder in September 2025.

What To Watch

• Reimbursement breadth and coverage policy changes
• System placements and utilisation
• Evidence base and competitive positioning

Neuronetics (NASDAQ: STIM)

Neuronetics’ NeuroStar is another leading TMS platform. NeuroStar states it is FDA cleared and covered by most insurance companies for major depressive disorder, while noting OCD coverage is expanding among payers. Neuronetics also announced payer coverage expansion to include adolescents under TRICARE West following adolescent clearance in a company release in November 2025.

What To Watch

• Continued payer adoption, including additional indications and age ranges
• Placement growth and procedure utilisation
• Competitive TMS and neuromodulation landscape

Category 4: Psychedelic And Next Generation Psychiatry Biotechs

Many mental health stock lists lean heavily into psychedelics. The potential is often framed as high, but the volatility is also high due to clinical trial risk, regulatory uncertainty, and financing needs.

COMPASS Pathways (NASDAQ: CMPS)

Compass is commonly cited because it is developing a psilocybin based therapy for treatment resistant depression. A widely cited Phase 2 trial reported that a single 25 mg dose was associated with a greater reduction in depression scores over a short follow up period, while also noting adverse effects and the need for larger and longer studies.

What To Watch

• Phase 3 timelines and endpoints
• Safety monitoring, durability of benefit, and regulatory feedback
• Cash runway and dilution risk

atai (NASDAQ: ATAI) And AtaiBeckley

atai is a core name in mental health stock lists for its psychedelic based pipeline and has been involved in a combination plan with Beckley Psytech announced in June 2025. atai also disclosed it increased its ownership stake in Compass Pathways to 20.8 percent in 2021, noting that stakes can change and investors should check the latest filings.

What To Watch

• Trial readouts and regulatory pathway clarity
• Portfolio focus and cash discipline
• Whether clinic workflow requirements make therapies scalable

Category 5: Big Pharma Mental Health Exposure

Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)

BMS belongs in a mental health stocks article because it is a rare example of a mega cap company making a large, visible psychiatry move. This includes the acquisition of Karuna, FDA approval of Cobenfy for schizophrenia, and a later late stage add on trial miss in 2025.

Why Investors Watch It

• It shows that mental health is not only a startup theme and remains strategically important within large pharma

What To Watch

• Commercial uptake and coverage
• Additional data readouts and label expansion attempts
• Whether future neuroscience deals follow

Conclusion

Mental health stocks are best viewed as an investing theme rather than a single sector, spanning behavioural health providers, virtual care platforms, TMS device makers, and higher risk psychiatry biotechs.

With demand remaining strong, this space can offer long term opportunity, but returns can vary widely depending on business model and risk exposure.

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