Structure and Productivity of Psychotherapeutic Care in Switzerland - An Empirical Survey of the Swiss Charter for Psychotherapy

Abstract

In the year 2001, the Swiss Charter for Psychotherapy decided to conduct an empirical survey involving a significant number of psychotherapists in Switzerland. The survey consisted of questions concerning the training and work methods of the therapists and the types of patients being treated.

The results of the survey showed that in the past year about 5000 psychotherapists in Switzerland conducted approximately 4.6 Million therapy hours, whereby a little less than half of these hours were paid out of the basic premium fund of the health insurance companies. The analytical method is the most prevalent in Switzerland, being used in about half of the total therapy hours given. It is followed by humanistic and body therapy methods. System oriented therapy and behavioural therapy each play a significantly subordinate role because they are most often used to supplement or support the main therapeutic approach.

What is particularly noticeable from the survey results is the extent to which different therapy methods are combined, in the actual therapeutic training programs as well as in the therapeutic process. A significant majority of therapists have attained knowledge of, or even completed training in a variety of therapeutic methods and are combining these in their therapeutic programs. Thus, there is a distinct tendency among psychotherapists to integrate different methods into a composite treatment. This implies that the recognition of individual methods as a criteria for being registered in the catalogues of the health insurance companies, is not tenable.

Keywords:
Psychotherapy; Social security; Health system; Health insurance; Training; Methods