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Article

Some Reflections on “Licensing of Psychotherapists in the United States: Evidence of Societal Regression?”

Pages 147-150
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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This article supports James B. Smith's (2011) opinion that licensing psychotherapists can be viewed as a sign of societal regression. The author describes some aspects of the regulation of psychotherapy in Italy. After a law strictly regulating psychotherapy was enacted more than 20 years ago, there is no evidence that the quality of psychotherapy offered to the public has improved. On the other hand, licensing procedures are now strictly and rigidly regulated, and licenses are given by training institutes acknowledged by the government. This has created the risk of conflicts of interest, a system that does not encourage flexibility, and possible increased bureaucratic and economic costs for trainees. The need to overhaul procedures for licensing are considered as part of a general process, consistent with Bowen's theory: the need for increasing rules that we observe in psychotherapy is part of a similar attitude in Western society, the result of generalized anxiety. We accept as normal this excess of rules because we are accustomed to an overly rule-oriented society, viewed as an answer to unconscious collective fears. The article concludes with some reflections on the certification system in transactional analysis and underscores—to answer Smith's third question—the need to not identify ethics with control but, rather, with the search for the real common good.

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Marco Mazzetti

Marco Mazzetti, M.D., is a psychiatrist, a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (psychotherapy), and a member of EATA and the ITAA. He is professor of sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brescia, Italy, and is the current chairperson of the EATA Commission of Certification (COC). Marco works in private practice in Milan, Italy, and can be reached at .