Professionalising psychotherapy: lessons from the development of psychiatry

Psychotherapy is at a critical point in its evolution. While its practitioners remain disparate and divided, they are considering their professional identity more seriously than ever before. Psychiatry represents a closely related profession whose sense of professionalism is changing as its contract with society appears to be shifting. If psychotherapists are to establish a professional identity that is clear and widely shared and accepted, this is also likely to need to reflect a wider implicit contract. Some implications of this comparison for future changes in how psychotherapists work are explored.