Regulating the Psychological Therapies
From Taxonomy to Taxidermy
Published on 2. April 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
274 pages
978-1-898059-94-3 (ISBN)
Description
Keeping track of the arguments for and against state regulation and how, if or why the psychological therapies should become state sponsored, has been an onerous task in recent years. For many practitioners, the institutional politics and disinformation around the regulation topic have tended to breed boredom and apathy. Why so? Might it be because informed consent to state regulation has tended to seem out of the question? And that considering the work we do, this is perceived as incongruous? Denis Postle chronicles 16 years of scrutiny and practical development of civic accountability for the psychological therapies. He shows how vested interests, which in the last decade successfully seduced an otherwise uninterested government into bringing forward state regulation, now find that they have got their wish but tragically for clients and practitioners alike, not in the form they sought. "Regulating the Psychological Therapies" invites the reader to reassess their attitudes to state regulation, arguing that due to attempts to control the market for the psychological therapies, a deep confusion of ends and means has arisen.
While intended to protect clients, legislation will be ineffective in this aim; conversely, through compromising innovation and favouring psychological monocultures, state regulation will damage and restrict clients' experience.
While intended to protect clients, legislation will be ineffective in this aim; conversely, through compromising innovation and favouring psychological monocultures, state regulation will damage and restrict clients' experience.
Reviews / Votes
Denis Postle confronts the status quo with its blind spots. He questions our compliance to 'professionalism' while reminding us that love and respect for the human condition cannot be legislated into us. I believe we need to consider what he says carefully if we are to avoid identifying ourselves with the alienating political and social conditions that bring our clients to us in the first place. This book is essential reading to all those who wish to make the practice of psychotherapy a fit home for the human spirit. Professor Paul Barber, The Metanoia Institute. 'This book is a relentless expose of the spurious claim that statutory regulation of psychotherapy is needed to protect the public. It chronicles the sustained machinations of a profession in pursuit of protection of its status by government edict, a pursuit that is driven by hidden and self-serving fear. Denis Postle reminds us that human helping calls for an open, unfettered and self-regulating professionalism which honours the wide-ranging liberation and flourishing of its clients.' John Heron, Retired Assistant Director, British Postgraduate Medical Federation, University of London 'Every therapeutic practitioner in Britain should by now be thinking through the issue of State Regulation, and Denis Postle's book is essential reading in this process. Combining a stunning overview of the field with passionate exploration into the arguments, it not only clarifies the subject but also provides a crucial counterbalance to conservative views. If you haven't yet read Regulating the Psychological Therapies, you haven't yet seen the whole picture on State Regulation.' Susan Quilliam, agony aunt, relationship psychologist, broadcaster and author.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-898059-94-3 (9781898059943)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Denis Postle is an artist, writer and musician who has had a counselling, coaching, supervision and psychotherapy practice in West London for over 20 years. He has co-run a variety of personal and professional development workshops and trainings focused around cooperative enquiry and facilitation. His approach to psychopractice seeks to help clients integrate politics, psychology and spirituality.
Content
PART I Waking up to the Shadow of Professionalisation Stealing the Flame Glacier Reaches Edge of Town Resisting Psychotherapy Registration How Does the Garden Grow? Psychopractice for a Post-modern Era? The Alchemists' Nightmare: Gold into Lead--The Annexation of Psychotherapy in the UK The Rush to Professionalise: Hidden Agendas Complaints and Grievances in Psychotherapy by Fiona Palmer Barnes Regulation ... By Order Statutory Regulation: Shrink-Wrapping Psychotherapy Protecting the Client's Experience: A User Guide to Psychotherapy PART II Couch Wars: Defending the Walled Gardens of Professional Eden Psychoanalysts Attempt a Regulatory Coup Conversations about Power Registering the Psychotherapy Bill Registering Human Nature Domineering, Sexist, Archaic: A Psychotherapy Bill? Psychotherapy Bill 'Bombshell' Fear as a Psychotherapeutic Organising Principle? Old Drawings in New Colours: The Statutory Regulation of Psychotherapy UK Psychopractice: First Quarter 2005 Developments An Established Church of False Promises Psychopractice Accountability: A Practitioner 'Full-Disclosure List' PART III State Regulation: The End Game? From Taxonomy to Taxidermy: Mapped ... Measured ... Captured ... Stuffed? Rowing Away From the Statutory Regulation of Psychotherapy UKCP/BACP Mapping Research on Psychotherapy and Counselling: Initial Mapping Project for the Department of Health Roles, Competencies and Complacency: Mapping the Territory of Psychotherapy and Counselling with the Department of Health What Counts as Evidence? From Survival and Recovery to Flourishing: A Residential Cooperative Inquiry Accountability for Client-Practitioner Relationships in UK Psychopractice: Ipnosis Submission to Department of Health Foster Review of Non-Medical regulation, 2005 Roles Analysis, Expropriation, Exclusion and Evidence UKCP's Love Affair with the State: The Second Decade--Science as Decoration The UKCP Is Our Shepherd, We Shall Not Want ... The Regulation Journey: From Taxonomy to Taxidermy The Penny's Dropped An Historic Moment Guilt Hardens the Heart CONCLUSION: Chickens to Wed Fox and Live in Henhouse?