Work is ongoing in the Sejm on a new Act on the Profession of Psychologist, which is intended—after more than 20 years—to bring order to the market for psychological services in Poland. A December amendment, however, significantly alters the original assumptions of the bill: it removes psychotherapy from the catalogue of psychological services and allows broadly defined “psychological assistance” to be provided outside psychological education pathways and substantive professional supervision. These provisions have sparked strong opposition from the psychology community.
“We oppose separating psychotherapy from clinical psychology. We very much want this act to pass and hope it will—but without this scandalous amendment introduced at the beginning of December. Psychotherapy has been part of the Act on the Profession of Psychologist for 25 years. In earlier drafts of the new act, psychotherapy was also among psychologists’ tasks, and suddenly, at the last moment before Christmas, it was removed,” said Marta Siepsiak, psychologist, psychotherapist, and academic lecturer, in an interview with Newseria.
Representatives of the psychology community have formally opposed these solutions. In a petition signed by more than 3,600 people since 5 January, they argue that the changes undermine the coherence of the mental healthcare system and evidence-based practice standards.
“Patients and clients will not know who they are dealing with—whether it is someone educated for at least nine years (five years of psychology master’s studies plus four years of specialized psychotherapy training), or a cellist, political scientist, or geologist who also completed a weekend psychotherapy course—of course a four-year one. This will create major chaos,” Dr. Siepsiak assesses.
According to protesters who gathered outside the Sejm on Thursday, 8 January, psychotherapy is a form of psychological treatment based on interventions affecting patients’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning, with foundations derived directly from psychological science. As they emphasize, removing psychotherapy from the scope of the psychologist profession and shifting it to separate regulations leads to competency chaos and a blurring of professional accountability, which may pose risks to the safety of people seeking psychological help.
At the same time, the petition stresses that the community does not oppose creating separate regulations governing the practice of psychotherapy by other professions, nor work on a dedicated Act on the Profession of Psychotherapist.
“We do not want to block others’ access to psychotherapy training. This is a form of compromise. We want psychotherapy to remain within the basket of psychologists’ services, and others can regulate their practice under their own acts,” says the author of the petition. “I cannot understand why people who are not psychologists want to interfere in our Act on the Profession of Psychologist. This serves the interests of psychotherapy schools that make money from it and want chaos among patients.”
Another contentious point concerns provisions allowing so-called psychological assistance to be provided by people without psychological education.
“There will no longer be a need to employ a qualified person with high competencies; anyone can be hired, because the act says that psychological support and psychological assistance can be provided by anyone,” Dr. Siepsiak argues.
Protesters point out that, due to the lack of clear definitions for patients and clients, the difference between professional psychological services and non-professional support becomes unclear. In their view, this could lead to lower standards and reduced real protection for people in mental health crises.
“To ensure the quality and accessibility of psychological help, we must first ensure an act that protects the rights and well-being of patients and clients. We very much want this act to pass—but without this amendment and without the provision that anyone can provide psychological assistance. If it passes in its current form, it will not protect patients; it will harm them,” the expert emphasizes.
On 8 January, after the second reading in the Sejm, the draft Act on the Profession of Psychologist was referred back to parliamentary committees, which addressed the submitted amendments.
