Google Ads & Meta for mental health practices # Psychiatry and therapy practice advertising MedScale Health runs paid ads for therapy groups, psychiatry, ADHD and medication management, IOP and outpatient programs. Every patient attribute is sensitive, so the tracking has to be right before the first dollar is spent. Where this category loses Mental health advertisers leak PHI through ordinary pixels (a form field, a URL with a condition in it) and get flagged on Meta for personal-attribute language ("feeling anxious?"). Google requires certification for addiction-treatment services and restricts some medication terms. Creative and page rules ## What clears review for mental health & psychiatry. Do - "Care for anxiety is available" phrasing - Separate campaigns and landing pages per service line - Server-side events with generic names and no personal identifiers - Insurance and self-pay handled before the booking Don't - "Do you have anxiety?" or any diagnosis of the viewer - Medication names in ads - A form field or URL that carries a condition into a pixel - Addiction-treatment ads on Google without certification Policy reality ## What each platform allows for mental health & psychiatry. Each platform's position for this category, with how we run it underneath. Where a cell names a certification it is LegitScript, the third-party certification Meta and Google require before a pharmacy or telehealth provider can advertise prescription drugs, unless the cell says otherwise. Checked 2026-10-23 [How the platforms compare](https://medscale.health/answers/telehealth-advertising-policy-map) ### Meta Restricted **Rejects the ad** - "Do you have anxiety?" personal-attribute framing - Medication names - Implying a diagnosis of the viewer **Risks the account** - Sensitive-category data sent through the pixel - Controlled-substance promotion **Requires** None for therapy and psychiatry services. Conversion-event optimization limited for sensitive categories. **How we run it** Personal-attributes policy is the main rejection trigger. "Care for anxiety is available" passes; "Do you have anxiety?" does not. Sensitive-category data restrictions limit which conversion events can be optimized against. ### Google Ads Restricted **Rejects the ad** - Controlled-substance and some ADHD-medication terms - Addiction-treatment ads without certification **Risks the account** Addiction-treatment services without LegitScript in the US **Requires** LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification for recovery-oriented addiction services in the US. Therapy and psychiatry intent is open without it. **How we run it** Therapy and psychiatry intent is open. Addiction-treatment services require LegitScript certification in the US. Controlled-substance and some ADHD-medication terms are restricted. ### TikTok Open **Rejects the ad** - Medication content - Claims of cure **Risks the account** Prescription promotion **Requires** No certification. Standard account and creative review. **How we run it** Open for provider and practice awareness; medication content is restricted. What we run ## The playbook for mental health & psychiatry. **PHI fields forwarded, ever** 0 **To a custom roadmap** 5 days **Report on cost per booked intake by service line** Monday Set at kickoff, reported against weekly, measured by the tracking we install in week one. **Tracking that forwards nothing sensitive** Server-side events with generic names, under a BAA. No name, email, phone number, IP address, browser ID, condition, diagnosis or form content ever reaches an ad platform. Full audit trail for your compliance officer. **Search on care intent, by service line** Therapy, psychiatry, ADHD evaluation, IOP: separate campaigns, separate landing pages, separate intake paths, with insurance and self-pay handled up front. The Google rules for each service line are in [Google Ads for psychiatry and mental health clinics](https://medscale.health/clinics/mental-health/google-ads). **Landing pages built around the booking** Fewer fields before the booking, insurance and self-pay answered up front, and attribution on the completed first session, not the form. Reminders stay with your team or your scheduling platform. The full paid plan is on the page for [mental health and behavioral health marketing](https://medscale.health/clinics/mental-health/marketing). **Live by Day 14** MedScale starts with a free growth audit; campaigns are live by Day 14 from access when certifications are in place. Mental health & psychiatry questions ## What clinics ask us first. **Is it HIPAA-compliant to run Meta ads for a mental health practice?** Running ads is not the exposure; the tracking is. A standard Meta pixel can send page URLs, form content and identifiers to Meta, which OCR guidance treats as a potential PHI disclosure. Server-side tracking under a BAA that sends generic event names, and no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs, is the configuration every MedScale engagement runs on. **Can we advertise ketamine or psychedelic-assisted therapy?** Ketamine clinics can advertise the clinic and treatment consultation; naming ketamine as a product runs into prescription-drug rules on Google and Meta. Psilocybin and other scheduled substances cannot be advertised. See the ketamine page for the channel mix that works. Go deeper on mental health & psychiatry - [Google Ads for Psychiatry & Mental Health Google Ads for psychiatry and mental health clinics: open keywords by practice type, what needs LegitScript, why remarketing is off, and intake tracking.](https://medscale.health/clinics/mental-health/google-ads) - [Mental Health Marketing Agency: Paid Ads Mental health marketing agency for therapy, psychiatry, TMS and behavioral health: Google and Meta ads that pass review, landing pages and tracking.](https://medscale.health/clinics/mental-health/marketing) From the answers library ## Platform rules Mental health & psychiatry clinics run into. - [Can You Advertise Mental Health Services on Google?](https://medscale.health/answers/can-you-advertise-mental-health-services-on-google) As of October 2026, therapy and psychiatry practices can run Google Search ads without certification, but remarketing, customer match and lookalike audiences are off, online prescribing needs LegitScript plus Google certification, and drug and alcohol addiction treatment needs its own certification. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds mental health accounts around search intent, with broad and predefined audiences only. Reviewed October 24, 2026 - [Can You Advertise Mental Health Services on Meta?](https://medscale.health/answers/can-you-advertise-mental-health-services-on-meta) As of October 2026, therapy, counseling and telehealth mental health services can advertise on Meta without authorization, because Meta exempts ads that promote telehealth services generally, and health service ads must target people 18 and over. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds these accounts around the service and checks every hook against Meta's rule that no ad may imply the viewer's mental health. Naming a medication needs LegitScript and Meta's authorization, and addiction treatment needs LegitScript plus Meta's permission. Reviewed October 24, 2026 - [Which Google Ads Keywords Can a Psychiatry Practice Use?](https://medscale.health/answers/psychiatry-practice-google-ads-keywords) As of October 2026, a psychiatry practice can bid on provider, service, coverage and location keywords on Google without certification, but keyword-targeting prescription drug names needs Google certification, and telepsychiatry that prescribes online needs LegitScript and Google certification. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds psychiatry accounts on that split, with controlled-substance names as negatives. Health is a sensitive category, so remarketing and customer match are off. Reviewed October 24, 2026 - [How Do You Run Meta Ads for a Therapy Practice?](https://medscale.health/answers/therapy-practice-meta-ads-copy) As of October 2026, a therapy practice can run Meta ads without authorization or LegitScript, as long as every ad targets people 18 and over, describes the service rather than the viewer, and uses no audiences built from health information. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, sets up therapy practices' Meta campaigns on location and age and pre-checks every ad against the personal attributes rule before it runs. Meta may also restrict the event data a counseling website can share, which shapes the campaign objective. Reviewed October 24, 2026 More answers on this - [What Can Paid Ads Do for Behavioral Health Marketing?](https://medscale.health/answers/behavioral-health-marketing-paid-ads) - [How Do You Market a TMS Clinic on Google and Meta?](https://medscale.health/answers/tms-clinic-marketing-google-and-meta) - [How Do Google Ads Rules Apply to Eating Disorder Treatment?](https://medscale.health/answers/eating-disorder-treatment-google-ads) - [Why Are Your Google Ads Disapproved for Telehealth, and How Do You Fix It?](https://medscale.health/answers/why-google-rejects-telehealth-ads) - [What Is Meta's Personal Attributes Policy and Why Does It Block Weight Loss Ads?](https://medscale.health/answers/meta-personal-attributes-policy-weight-loss) - [How Do Meta, Google and TikTok Differ on Telehealth Advertising?](https://medscale.health/answers/telehealth-advertising-policy-map) - [Can Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Advertise on Microsoft Ads?](https://medscale.health/answers/can-you-advertise-mental-health-on-microsoft-ads) Other clinic verticals - [Medical weight loss](https://medscale.health/clinics/medical-weight-loss) - [TRT & men's health](https://medscale.health/clinics/trt-mens-health) - [Ketamine clinics](https://medscale.health/clinics/ketamine-clinics) - [Dental & ortho](https://medscale.health/clinics/dental-orthodontics) - [Med spa & aesthetics](https://medscale.health/clinics/med-spa-aesthetics) Growth audit ## See where your growth is leaking. We audit the ads, the landing pages, the tracking and the compliance posture, then hand you the roadmap. The people writing it have run the same funnel from the inside. You keep it whether or not we work together. [Book the audit](https://medscale.health/audit) [Account already restricted? Start a rescue](https://medscale.health/rescue) [Launching a new brand? Plan your telehealth launch](https://medscale.health/build) **Reviewed** Funnel, tracking, and compliance posture **Discussed** One 30-minute call with the operator on your account **Delivered** A written roadmap within 5 business days Canonical page: https://medscale.health/clinics/mental-health