This article was updated and revamped May 30, 2022.
It was originally created September 28, 2017.

What are some of the best free anxiety chat rooms? We'll show you the ones to visit and the ones to avoid!

2. Two things to think about before diving in

(1) Are you looking for peer support or talking to a mental health professional?

Before you join a chat room, take a few moments to think about your goal. Anxiety chat rooms may be helpful if your goal is:

• Peer support. This is where you join a group of people who share the same anxiety disorder as you or who experience anxiety in a similar way. You help each other by talking about your experiences or sharing treatments that have been helpful. Sharing experiences can help you feel less alone.
• Talking to a therapist. 7Cups, Healthful Chat and Social Anxiety Support (SAS) all have links to paid counseling services. 7Cups has links to therapists who use the 7Cups platform to deliver therapy. The 7Cups volunteer “Listeners” who moderate the chat rooms may also recommend a 7Cups therapist. Healthful Chat advertises the BetterHelp.com virtual counseling service. Social Anxiety Support links to Presto Experts where you can search for a therapist.

(2) Be aware of the downsides of anxiety chat rooms

These are some of the disadvantages of anxiety chat rooms:

• There are uninformed people in chat rooms who spread inaccurate information. Make sure to get accurate information from authoritative sources such as highly-trained Psychologists and mental health professionals. Fact-check what you hear. When you have questions, do a Google search and find authoritative information sources that you can trust (e.g. experts who are ethical and provide evidence-based therapy).
• There are bad actors. Be ready to report them to the Administrator and block them.

Overall, 7Cups gets positive reviews and is considered a safe and legit website. It is the most highly rated anxiety chat room we reviewed.

• Trust Pilot: 267 reviews with a 4.7 out of 5.0 rating.
• Site Jabber: 628 reviews with a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
• Scam Adviser: 100% trust score and overall positive reviews.
• Better Business Bureau received 54 complaints. Most of these complaints were resolved by 7Cups to the satisfaction of the person filing the complaint and revolved around a misunderstanding of when their credit card would be charged for paid counseling services.
  

7Cups image gallery:

How 7Cups works

There are two types of chat rooms: Group rooms and one-on-one. In group chat rooms multiple people are chatting. In one-on-one chat rooms, a volunteer "Listener" chats with you. The "Listener" is trained to listen non-judgmentally. Connect with a listener by requesting the first available listener or by selecting a specific listener from the 7Cups community. You can browse the list of listeners.

A volunteer listener, Amelia Winsby, PsyD, shares how 7Cups works and her positive experience volunteering. She explains the training that volunteer listeners receive.

Check out the 7Cups mission in this video:

Rules you should be aware of

There are teen members and adult members. The minimum age for teen members is 13 and the minimum age for adults is 18. Teens can only chat with other teens and approved Adult Listeners. Make sure you use your accurate birthday when you sign up. 

You'll find all of the standard rules that you would find in most chat rooms such as be respectful, don't spam, don't share your personal contact information, and don't use graphic, flirtatious and sexually suggestive language, profiles, links.

• Rules
• Detailed Rules Guide
• FAQs

Terms of Service you should be aware of

We recommend that you read the 7Cups Terms - especially if you purchase therapy services.

For free chat, here are two Terms you should be aware of:

• Do not use 7 Cups for crises or emergencies. Staff is not trained to help with suicide, medical emergencies or situations where you may be a danger to yourself or others. In the US call 911 or a crisis hotline. In other countries' call your relevant crisis or emergency number. Read this guide for more information.
• 7Cups provides the platform and is not responsible for the services offered on that platform. Your relationship relating to the Listening and Therapy Services is strictly with the Listener or Therapist. 7Cups is not involved in any way with the actual substance of that relationship or any part of the Listening or Therapy Service. 

About the company

7Cups.com is owned by Glen Moriarty, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist. He received his Doctor of Psychology degree from Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Missouri (the school closed in 2015).

7Cups is a for-profit startup company based in California and makes revenue from virtual counseling services.

According to the 7Cups website, 7Cups was launched in 2013 and draws millions of monthly visitors and utilizes the services of 320,000 trained “listeners” in 189 countries and 140 languages. Listeners engage one-on-one with visitors in free, anonymous online chats. Many of the listeners are peers who struggle with their own emotional and mental health issues. To become a listener, you have to be at least 18 years old (or 15 years old with parental consent) and go through the 7Cups listening skills training. Listeners do not provide medical advice, but are trained to refer people in need of more intensive services to professional therapists.

Healthful Chat

Healthful Chat image gallery:

See the list of all chat rooms and how many people are currently in each one https://www.healthfulchat.org/all-chat-rooms.html.

Healthful Chat is a private company and it is unknown who owns and operates the website. They appear to make revenue from advertising. Websites are expensive to maintain and I don't have a problem with a website that makes money from advertising. They need to pay the bills and they offer a free service to the public.

Rules to be aware of

Healthful Chat monitors chat rooms carefully and they take their rules very seriously. They reserve the right to censor, remove and ban any individuals who do not uphold all rules. HealthfulChat’s chat rooms are moderated and any individual seen partaking in any of the following may be banned:

• Sexual Conversation
• Racism/Anti-Semitism/Hate
• Glorification of Alcohol/Drugs or Suicide
• Politics
• Software Piracy
• Religion
• Disrespectful discussion of another's Culture or Nationality

Private Messaging (PMing) is allowed and encouraged. The rules regarding private messaging are:

• You must first ask permission before you PM anyone.
• If you accept any PM, please proceed with caution. Private Messages are just that – private. They will not be moderated.
• When in a PM, please show respect at all times and do not advertise. It is highly likely the recipient of your PM will report abuse to a moderator.
• Three complaints of PM abuse will result in a kick and possible permanent ban from the network.

Read the Healthful Chat Terms of Service.

Anxiety Chat Room Alternatives

Supportiv - Paid Anxiety Chat

If you are open to a paid alternative, consider Supportiv.com. Supportiv matches you, in less than one minute, with other people who are struggling with something similar. You can chat about any topic, and everyone is always anonymous. All chats are guided by a professionally trained moderator to ensure safety, remove trolls, and keep the conversation on track. As you chat, you’ll receive resources like articles, videos and podcasts that are hyper-relevant to coping with, problem solving, and healing from your struggle.

Forums & Facebook Groups

Reddit forums - includes private messaging chat:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Anxiety/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Anxietyhelp/

Facebook Groups - includes Messenger chat:

• Feel alone but not alone https://www.facebook.com/groups/283034362174461/
• Facebook Groups list: https://www.facebook.com/groups/search/groups_home/?q=anxiety%20support%20group

Other Forums:

• Quora Anxiety Space
• Social Anxiety Support (SAS) forum with chat - only for social anxiety.