Body-Psychotherapy in Various Countries

In Italy at the moment many training organisations previously waiting with bated breath to become recognised schools of psychotherapy have been accepted.
There are now about 100 recognised schools at the moment of which four are Body Psychotherapy ones . Two of these are Bioenergetic schools and have only recently have become linked with EABP members through the Italian Association of Body Psychotherapy. So it is not that Body Psychotherapy is not recognised but only that some schools have so far gained recognition.
In the most recent applications to go through were Luciano Rispoli's school in Naples - SIF and Jerome Liss's Biosystemic school in Rome (both accredited schools of the FORUM of Body-Psychotherapy Organisations).
No other Body-Psychotherapy approach seems to have felt strong enough even to apply, since the rules insist on a very strong structure and University teachers for the theory part and public structure training experience which needs approval by public structures. Hopefully more Body Psychotherapy schools will apply next time round.  

EAP itself is not recognised very well as there have been difficulties with the two different Italian Umbrella organisations (FAIP & FIAP). These difficulties have theoreticallyy been resolved now.

We hope to strengthen the general Body Psychotherapy position in Italy now that the Italian National Association for Body-Psychotherapy has been recognised by EABP. The planned Congress in naples and Ischia in October, 2002 should help this process. Click here for details.

In Austria, the Austrian Ministry of Health, on the advice from certain people within the Austrian National Umbrella Organisation for Psychotherapy (OBVP), produced a list of "recognised" psychotherapies which very significantly did NOT include Body Psychotherapy. This list effectively made it impossible for Body Psychotherapy training schools to get any form of official recognition for their graduate trainees. One school could not even get it's post-training courses recognised as accredited further education. So there has been very little training (if any) in Body Psychotherapy happening there since 1996. Despite this one school has got accredited through The FORUM for Body-Psychotherapy Organisations. Click here fore details.

The Austrian National Umbrella Organisation for Psychotherapy (OBVP) is very close to the heart of EAP, and so wants to see it succeed. There has also been a significant shift of personnel within the higher echelons of OBVP. So now that EABP has got its Scientific Validation recognised by the EAP, there is a strong chance that B-P schools can re-apply to have Body Psychotherapy recognised by the Austrian Ministry of Health and thus also recognised by the OBVP. This is in the process of being done.

What must happen now is that a paper backed up by the Scientific Validation (click here) needs to be written in German and then submitted to the OBVP and the Austrian Ministry of Health. There is a reasonable chance of success, and opening moves have been invited by the President of the OBVP. But again we will have to cross various parts of our anatomies and hope and pray that this will all go through properly this time.

Meanwhile the Body Psychotherapists in Austria are very depressed and are having a hard time of it. Apparently things move very slowly in Austria, so they might have to wait for more time before all this gets resolved. The number of EABP members in the Austrian National Association for Body-Psychotherapy have also gone down a little.

There is good news coming out of Germany as well as bad news. Despite the recent passing of the law. This regulates the field of psychotherapy from 1st Jan 99 and which limits the title of "Psychotherapist" to any but people who have psychology degrees or have had medical (psychiatric) training in psychotherapy; which of course goes against the principle of the Strasbourg Declaration on Psychotherapy. All other professions can no longer call themselves Psychotherapists, even if they have the same training in a specific method as their colleagues. There is some hope that at least the transitional regulations might be changed so that those psychotherapists who are not psychologists or doctors, but have another academic qualification, might get the approbation to work as a Psychotherapist.

The second problem is that the law defines the methods which are recognised as scientific. Until now these have been psychoanalysis, behavioural therapy, psychodynamic-based psychotherapy, and Rogerian psychotherapy. All other approaches have to apply to a scientific committee. We are in contact with several other humanistic approaches, which are all in the same position, to fight for scientific recognition.

All this, has been done under the condition that many colleagues have had to struggle for their individual approbation as psychotherapists. An immense amount of time and money was spent by most of the psychotherapists last year to fulfil the conditions of the transitional regulations of the new law. So many of our colleagues are burnt out or busy with existential problems. If they couldn't get the approbation and the accreditation by the insurances, they get no new clients and the market for 'insurance-paid' psychotherapy is changing rapidly now. Not so much of a market exists for those whose clients paid their psychotherapy themselves.

In Germany there is not one umbrella organisation for psychotherapy, but several, which are fighting each other. As Body Psychotherapy, we did not succeed in joining the official organisations which are in a way accepted by the ministry as relevant organisations. The only city where the DGK is officially part of a working group of different branches is Berlin. But all these groups accept the main point of the German law, that psychotherapy is a profession based on psychology or medicine. We, as the DGK and as part of EABP, on the other hand agree with the politics of the EAP, that psychotherapy is a free and independent profession . So we decided to join the German section of the EAP (the DVP), and as DGK we were elected into the extended board of the DVP. In this organisation, we worked towards transitional (grandparenting) regulations which will make it possible for EABP/DGK members to get the ECP if they have had 7 years of practice as Body Psychotherapists. This is the good news.

The DGK made clear that we are willing to be the German umbrella organisation for all the different approaches of Body psychotherapy in Germany. A fruitful cooperation has started with approaches such as Functional Relaxation, Bioenergetics, Breath Therapy, PsychoOrganic Analysis, Psychosomatic Bodytherapy, Dance Therapy, Concentrative Movement Therapy, and many others. Some of these have joined the DGK already as extraordinary members (without voting rights).

Body Psychotherapy is implicitly accepted in the U.K. which is a good thing and there are a number of Body-Psychotherapy training organisations that are fully functioning members, mainly of the Humanistic and Integrative section of the UKCP; The United Kingdon Council for Psychotherapy. The UKCP is the closest thing to an National Umbrella Organisation for Psychotherapy in the U.K. with about 5000 psychotherapists on its well-established Register, even though there is a psycho-analytic rival which is currently preventing the UKCP being officially accepted as the umbrella body for psychotherapy in the UK. The Register is a very eclectic register and the UKCP is wishing to promote psychotherapy as an independant profession, based on the Strasbourg Declaration. However herein lie some of the problems.

Currently the UKCP is very hesitant about the EAP. This is a recent development as the previous three chairpersons have been very enthusiastic. However the UKCP is at present sitting on the fence and not making any decisions about joining in further or not joining in the EAP. No-one quite knows what the problem is and what the differing opinions are within the UKCP. In fairness to say, some of their expressed problems have been with the (perceived) chaotic organisation within EAP.

If this situation continues, it will make it very difficult for psychotherapists (of any modality) to get the ECP in Britain as applications should all go through the NUO. There are two other possibilities if this situation doesn't resolve itself. In the ECP document it states that individuals can go through another country if their NUO/NAO is not functioning and the Irish NAO might be willing to act as an NAO for UK applicants.

The other possibility is for the EWAOs to act as awarding organisations for their various modalities and become able to put names forward for grand-parenting (at least). But this would mean a further change in the ECP document and this might be resisted very strongly. This would force the hand of the NAOs for those countries where (say) Body-Psychotherists cannot get the ECP at present, and Body-Psychotherapists could thereforeget the ECP but would not be on the country's normal register. This may be a way forward and EABP will be exploring this in the next ETSC & EAP Board meeting in June 2000 in Vienna.

If the UKCP, given its recent major status in EAP, withdraws from the EAP, it will be as serious as the USA not signing the test ban treaty or paying it's dues to the United Nations. Other countries may get suspicious and back-off and the EAP and all its work over the years will lose a degree of credibility. This would be a crying shame and thus the continued involvement of the UKCP is really to be hoped for. Least of all because they have been almost the openest country with respect to Body-Psychotherapy. That is not to say that B-P hasn't got it's problems in the UK. One of the organisations is (possibly rightfully) held in considerable disrespect and this does not help the whole.