Nevada’s Mental Health Crisis

Now, With Extra Red Tape

The Silver State, known for its glittering casinos and vast desert landscapes, has decided it needs fewer psychologists. While the rest of the country has recognized that mental health services are in crisis, Nevada has taken the bold step of adding an extra, pricey, and now mostly discredited test to keep potential psychologists from helping its struggling citizens.

Nevada ranks dead last in the nation for youth mental health services, which seems fitting for a state that prides itself on high-stakes gambling—except here, the stakes are people’s well-being. The controversial test, the EPPP-2, was supposed to be a nationwide requirement in 2026, but after backlash, the national board that created it decided to back down. In a stroke of regulatory genius, Nevada stubbornly refuses to drop the requirement, making it the last holdout, clinging to a test criticized as racially biased and lacking scientific validity.

For those keeping score at home, here’s how the system works: First, you shell out $800 for the standard psychology exam (EPPP). If you pass that, Nevada demands you fork over another $450 to $500 for the EPPP-2.

And if you fail? That’s another few hundred bucks each time you try again.

No wonder prospective psychologists are opting to get licensed anywhere else.

Adding to the absurdity, Nevada already has a statewide mental health provider shortage. According to UNLV and Brookings Mountain West, the state needs 235 more mental health professionals to meet the bare minimum. And yet, rather than making the path to licensure easier, Nevada is making it more difficult—a move that would make sense if the goal were to ensure people stay mentally unwell enough to keep gambling away their rent money.

Nevada’s stance on this exam is backward from the national push for uniform licensure standards. But then again, why should Nevada follow a logical path when it can instead charge its already underpaid, overworked mental health professionals extra fees for a test that does nothing but create bureaucratic headaches?

Governor Joe Lombardo, to his credit, has issued an order to streamline licensing. However, Nevada’s Board of Psychological Examiners seems determined to prove that unnecessary regulations are as much a part of the state as slot machines and overpriced buffets.

Studies show that minority applicants face significantly higher failure rates for the EPPP-2, which has raised concerns about increasing racial disparities in the profession. If Nevada was hoping to create a psychological workforce that looks nothing like the people it serves, mission accomplished.

In short, Nevada’s approach to mental health policy is like trying to fix a leaky boat by drilling more holes in it. If the goal is to remain at the bottom of mental health rankings, the state is succeeding spectacularly.

Meanwhile, Nevadans seeking help will have to settle for slot machines and self-diagnosis—because–at this rate, licensed psychologists might become as rare in the state as an honest game of three-card monte.