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Dear Editor
I wish to widen the terms of the debate about The College of Psychoanalysts - United Kingdom started in the BJP (20(3)), in the light of recent worrying developments in Europe.
The background is that on 11 February 2004 the European Commission decided to add psychotherapy to the list of professions for which it issues directives. European training standards and ethical guidelines will be decided in Brussels and will be applied in all member states enabling members of professions to practise throughout the EU.
The European Association of Psychotherapists (EAP) and UKCP are pleased with the EC decision because Brussels apparently promised to base the directive on the European Certificate for Psychotherapy (ECP) promoted by the EAP and awarded in the UK by UKCP. The ECP is constituted under the laws of Austria, the only country in continental Europe which defines psychotherapy not as a form of medical treatment to be practised only by psychiatrists and some psychologists but as an independent ‘psycho-social activity’. The ECP requires a first degree in a ‘health profession’ but will accept equivalence.
However, in France, an amendment has been introduced to an ancient law designed to protect the public from gypsies and cults, defining psychotherapy as a ‘medical treatment’ which may be practised only by physicians and those in possession of a degree in clinical psychology. The rationale was that up to one third of the 30,000 practitioners of psychotherapy in France were viewed as working in ‘cults’ and that special regulations must be put in place to protect the public from them. After much protest, a further amendment was introduced leaving most French psychotherapists in an