Boston area. I certainly don't think it's the *norm* by any means. Perhaps the family was exaggerating after calling a handful of places. However, doing a cursory search on psychology today shows mostly $200-600 evals but in checking the sites many of them show that they are not accepting new intakes at this time. Given the astronomical MH demand of kids and adolescents in the area this year, I would not be surprised if the demand/supply curve has pushed hour long evaluations into the 4 digit territory - esp. for famous celebrity psychiatrists or for families willing to shell out $$$ for immediate care.
Texas I'll PM you the exact suburb b/c I don't want to dox the family. Actually I've shared no clinical information other than saying it's a family seeking care at a public hospital so I think it's fine. Brookline MA. For the unfamiliar here's a very culturally relevant and interesting article about Brookline.
In a district where parents are epidemiologists and health policy experts, the meltdown happened one Zoom meeting at a time.
slate.com
"In Brookline, a single-family house rarely goes for anything under $1.5 million. The town even seems to pride itself on how much people stretch to live there; the city’s website highlights that half of all renters and more than a quarter of residents pay more than 30 percent of their income in housing, which is generally considered financially imprudent. But this isn’t spending on a watch or a car. This is spending on your child’s
future.
As a class, Brookline parents might be summed up as: people who can and
will fluently cite to you the data about how a child’s socioeconomic circumstances and parents’ educational background actually matter more for their achievement in the long term than the specifics of their schooling
. And yet they still can’t stop themselves from trying to maximize their own kid’s shot. Because, mostly, people move to Brookline for the schools."