Psychotherapy development and regulation in Belgium: What Slovenia can learn from the Belgian contradictions

Abstract

Although psychotherapy is well developed in Belgium, it is still not recognised as an independent profession and as an autonomous scientific discipline. Many contradictions in the development of psychological and psychotherapeutic care in the Belgian mental health system stem from the privileged position of medical doctors and clinical psychologists. On the 4th of April 2014, a law on the regulation of mental health professions was passed by Parliament, which introduced the integration of clinical psychologists, orthopedagogists and psychotherapists into the mental health care system. Although psychotherapist as a profession was not recognized as a health profession, as a practice it could be performed by practitioners who fulfilled certain conditions, including specific psychotherapy training. But there was then a sudden change in May 2015, when a new law on mental health provision was passed, which took away the rights of psychotherapists and granted a privileged position in the field of psychotherapy to doctors and psychologists. Despite the fact that in Belgium’s primary mental health system psychotherapists have not yet been given the role that they deserve and that would be beneficial to users, the Belgian model of primary psychological care, which has been developed during recent years, represents a positive development. Due to the new Primary Psychological Care Convention financial investments in mental health care have risen sharply and there has been a progressively increasing influx of patients who have never been in treatment before. Patients’ waiting time has been reduced, their admission to care is smoother and faster, and the clinical effectiveness of the primary psychological service has increased.