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Mental health marketing rules in Texas
What you can claim, how you can pay for referrals, and where Texas diverges from the federal floor. Derived from the live ruleset library.
Yes. Texas has its own mental health advertising law, and Pre-Trip carries it as a live rule set, with every rule traced back to the section of law it comes from, checked 2026-07-31. On top of the federal rules that apply everywhere (the FTC Act, HIPAA, the TCPA, CAN-SPAM), Texas adds 2 rules of its own, listed below with the section behind each one. A clean pass here means the copy cleared both.
22 Tex. Admin. Code 681.41 (Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, general ethical requirements), which forbids a licensee from making any false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent
Every Texas scan also runs the always-on federal layer: FTC deceptive health claims and endorsements, TCPA consent and revocation in calls and texts. A ruleset counts toward a clean pass only while it is published, matches its content hash, and its review clock is fresh, which is why the date above is load-bearing.
The claim types Texas law puts off-limits in treatment marketing. Each is compiled from the cited section; the scanner reads your copy for them, and the patterns stay on the server.
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High riskPromises of cure, guaranteed recovery, or any claim of a guaranteed treatment outcome.
An exaggerated or misleading claim about the EFFECTIVENESS of a licensee's services is prohibited by 22 Tex. Admin. Code 681.41(a)(1). A promise of cure or a guaranteed outcome is a claim about effectiveness that no course of psychotherapy can support.
22 Tex. Admin. Code 681.41(a)(1)
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FlagClaims of being the best, top, leading or number one provider without substantiation.
A claim of being the best or most effective provider is a claim about the effectiveness of the licensee's services under 22 Tex. Admin. Code 681.41(a)(1), and is prohibited where it is exaggerated or cannot be supported.
22 Tex. Admin. Code 681.41(a)(1)
The exposure Texas attaches to a marketing violation, by tier. Exact amounts and elements live in the cited statute.
- CivilCivil penalties per violation and deceptive-practices exposure. Amounts are in the cited section.
- LicenseAdvertising violations can trigger license discipline for the facility or the provider.
What the scanner does with two versions of the same idea. The flagged line is rendered the way Pre-Trip renders a finding; the clean line is a pass.
We guarantee you will be free of anxiety after eight sessions.
A guaranteed treatment outcome. No course of psychotherapy can promise a result for a given client, and the claim is unsubstantiated on its face.
Cure and guarantee claims · 22 TAC 681.41 (LPC general ethical requirements)
Cognitive behavioral therapy is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety, and most clients meet weekly for several months.
Describes the treatment and what the evidence supports without promising this reader a result.
Texas and federal sources
- 22 TAC 681.41 (LPC general ethical requirements) primary
- Tex. Occ. Code 101.201 (deceptive health care advertising)
- 15 U.S.C. 45 (FTC Act Section 5, official code viewer) primary
- 15 U.S.C. 52 (FTC Act Section 12, false advertisements, official code viewer) primary
- FTC Health Products Compliance Guidance (Dec. 2022) primary
- 16 CFR Part 255 Endorsement Guides, 2023 revision (Cornell LII mirror; ecfr.gov bot-blocked at authoring)
- 16 CFR 255.2 Consumer endorsements (Cornell LII mirror)
- 16 CFR 255.5 Disclosure of material connections (Cornell LII mirror)
- 16 CFR 251.1 Guide concerning use of the word Free (Cornell LII mirror)
Pre-Trip is a rigorous screen, not legal advice. Counsel decides; we help you arrive prepared. Coverage for Texas reflects the library as of the build and changes as the law does.