Counselling and psychotherapy in dialogue with complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract

ABSTRACT Counselling and psychotherapy is attracting government interest and intervention, for instance the proposal to regulate the profession by the Health Professions Council. Many therapists see this as a threat to its fundamental principles due to the fact that government policy is influenced by the medical model and managerialism. This article looks, in particular, at the relationship between the therapy profession and the medical model. It concludes that the concerns about the current plans for regulation make some important points but that the proposed changes have created possibilities for developing a vision for the future of the profession. This article will enter this debate and will argue, in particular, for the cross-fertilisation of ideas between therapists and such humanistically orientated approaches to medicine as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The argument will be developed with reference to one form of CAM, known as anthroposophic medicine and therapy.