At the heart of this article is the “Directive on psychotherapy”, which regulates the application of psychoanalysis in the context of health insurance. In the first part, the author begins by discussing the relationship between psychoanalysis and the treatment of patients, before going on to outline the history of the establishment of the “directive” and its nature of compromise. This is followed by a discussion of certain aspects of the regulations. In the second part, which will be published in a forthcoming issue, the theoretical background to the system of directives is clarified, before the author finally argues in favour of fundamental changes.