A GoodTherapy.org News Update
Mental health care in many parts of the world, including the United States, enjoys a professional freedom capable of growing and helping clients thrive, safe in the knowledge that their information is confidential, and that their choice to seek therapy –and a specific therapist– is their own. Yet some places do not enjoy such freedoms, or, at least, such freedoms are threatened. It may seem peculiar that one such nation is the United Kingdom, as it is usually associated with modern regulation and thought in terms of the medical and professional fields. However, lawmakers there are considering the construction and passage of a measure which would fundamentally change the nature of psychology and psychiatry as the modern English-speaking world knows the subjects.
The measure would place control of mental health practices in the hands of the State, assigning clients to professionals who qualify based on a battery of standardized protocols and plans of action for sessions. Published Thursday in the national newspaper The Guardian, a letter drafted by a group of concerned professionals and associates strongly warns against the consequences of such a measure. Standardizing therapy sessions, the group argues, undermines the essential individuality and creativity of psychotherapy, allowing no room for personal care or adaptation. The letter describes a scenario in which clients are treated as cookie-cutter cases, and therapy itself is understood as a static process with identical, predictable results across the board.
The letter offers a space for professionals and concerned parties in the UK to sign their name to the statement, which they hope will send the message to lawmakers that psychotherapy is largely dependent upon the creation of a workable and meaningful client-therapist relationship.
© Copyright 2009 by By John Smith, therapist in Bellingham, Washington. All Rights Reserved. Permission to publish granted to GoodTherapy.org.
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