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This forty page publication is worth much more than the eighty five English pence charged for it. The independent chairman, Paul Sieghart, introduces the report with a foreword that admirably sums up the main points at issue.
There is no law in the United Kingdom regulating who may call himself a psychotherapist, a psychoanalyst, an analytical psychologist, a clinical psychologist, etc., nor what such persons may do with their patients. The regulation of a profession by statute protects the public from unscrupulous or untrained practitioners and it helps to enhance the standards and status of members of the profession.
In 1971, Sir John Foster, in the course of his 'Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology' recommended that the profession of psychotherapy should be regulated by statute. The British Medical Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists endorsed this view. The Professions Joint Working Party on Statutory Registration of Psychotherapists, set up in 1975 to report on this proposal, contained representatives from the Association of Child Psychotherapists, the British Association for Behavioural Psychotherapy, the British Association of Psychotherapists, the British Psycho-Analytical Society, the Institute of Group Analysis, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the Society of Analytical Psychology. There were also observers from the British Psychological Society, the Department of Health and Social Security, the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work and the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies.
The Working Party unanimously concluded that there should be a statutory regulation for psychotherapists. The scheme of regulation should include a statutory register, the control of ethical standards (the Report suggests what should be regarded as professional misconduct), penalizing of unregistered practitioners, formal training (The British Association for Behavioural Psychotherapy records a note of dissent on this p