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10th May 1954.
Dear Sir David:
I enjoyed reading your lecture as reported in the B.M.J. in one of the recent numbers. There are two points which I would like to take up for comment, and if you agree to read what I write I hope you will understand that the main thing I have in mind is that your lecture was up to the usual high standard of what comes from you yourself and that it has value because of your wide experience and important position.
One point that I felt like writing to you about was the matter of the lay psycho-therapist. I do see the point that the fact that there is a big demand for psycho-therapy should not lead to any panic provision of half-trained psycho-therapists. We are always up against the same problem at the Institute of Psycho-Analysis where we are asked to give a shorter course in our training or to give lectures on psycho-therapy without insisting on a personal analysis. As you probably know, the policy of the Institute is to resist this sort of argument. Nevertheless I do want to suggest that the medical profession has already missed the boat in regard to the matter of psycho-therapy. It is now too late to adopt a policy that only medical men and women should be trained. I believe you may be able to agree with me that psychiatrists have been, if anything, slightly more resistant to the idea of psycho-therapy than other doctors have, and in some form or other all of us are to blame for the present position.