Psychotherapy in Naturopaths: “A Presumption of Competences”

There are quality deficits and dubious treatment methods in psychotherapies by non-medical practitioners, as research by the SWR. Their professional associations promise that they stand for quality and relieve the burden on the health system.

Anxiety, depression, personality disorders: According to the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists, more than a quarter of people in Germany are mentally ill. If you have statutory health insurance and are looking for a place in therapy, you usually have to put up with long waiting times. The demand for psychotherapy has increased sharply since the beginning of the corona pandemic.

Those who can afford it look for alternatives – for example with non-medical practitioners who are also allowed to offer psychotherapy. Professional associations of non-medical practitioners promise: They offer appointments at short notice, stand for quality and patient safety and relieve the burden on the healthcare system. research of SWR-investigative format VOLLBILD show the risks of treatment by non-medical practitioners for psychotherapy.

No cure

A former patient with an anxiety disorder who wishes to remain anonymous says that she initially felt that she was in better hands with a non-medical practitioner than with doctors and therapists. “The atmosphere was just very different, very open and bright. He made me think he saw exactly what I had.” In her distress she endured all attempts at treatment. In retrospect, she says her symptoms have only gotten worse because of the inadequate treatment. She only experienced real improvement after being treated by a licensed psychotherapist, who prescribed her medication.

The authors of the VOLLBILD film have researched several such cases of patients who, because they had to wait too long to see a psychotherapist, instead went to alternative practitioners for psychotherapy. However, they were not helped there, they describe in front of the camera. There they experienced conspiracy stories, opposition to vaccination and esotericism.

In the course of their research, the authors asked several alternative practitioner associations, including the Association of Independent Psychotherapists, Alternative Practitioners for Psychotherapy and Psychological Counselors (VFP). At the time of going to press, there was no response to the research.

“This is a clear transgression of limits”

With a hidden camera, VOLLBILD reporter Christoph Kürbel went to a healing practice as a self-experiment and pretended that he wanted to have anxiety and depression treated. The practice advertises on its website with numerous procedures that should be effective against it. However, before the reporter was allowed to begin his therapy session, he first had to undergo an esoteric energy treatment from a healer who also works in the practice. She tried vehemently to persuade the reporter to buy an “energetic healing blanket”.

Thomas Fydrich, Professor of Psychotherapy at the Humboldt University in Berlin, then evaluated the recordings of the undercover research. It is true that some treatment methods are not far removed from methods that are also commonly used in conventional behavioral therapy. According to the expert, none of the methods used in healing practice is scientifically evident, but potentially harmful for patients who actually suffer from acute anxiety disorders. “This is a clear transgression of limits. It is clearly an assumption of authority” – so his assessment of the treatment in the healing practice, which was documented with a hidden camera.

Doubts about the professional qualifications of naturopaths

Alternative practitioners for psychotherapy repeatedly end up in court because of incorrect and harmful treatment methods, says Dirk Revenstorf, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Tübingen, in an interview with VOLLBILD. He is consulted in many legal proceedings as an expert witness. Revenstorf reports on encroaching treatment methods that would (re-)traumatize patients in case of doubt, so that they would have to go to a clinic or treatment again.

According to the professor of clinical psychology, it is a fallacy that non-medical practitioners could relieve the health system. He expresses massive doubts about the professional qualifications of many naturopaths: “Strangely enough, naturopaths with very little training often feel called upon to treat difficult disorders such as trauma or sexual disorders,” criticizes Revenstorf. He is critical of the profession as a whole and demands: “Actually, one should abolish the naturopath.”

In order to work as a non-medical practitioner for psychotherapy, you only need the so-called “small non-medical practitioner license”. Eligibility requirements are a minimum age of 25 years and a police clearance certificate. The exam for the certificate is carried out by the health department, 21 of 28 multiple-choice questions must be answered correctly in writing. This is followed by a 30-minute oral examination.

There is no uniform training, but numerous alternative practitioner schools offer intensive courses and exam preparation. The research by the VOLLBILD authors shows that these schools often also offer earning opportunities: When the reporter pretends to be interested in a training course, he is not only given the prospect of having more varied training after the alternative practitioner academy than a trained psychotherapist. It is also very lucrative to set up your own practice afterwards.

lack of therapy places

Psychotherapist Umut Özdemir also knows of patients who went to alternative practitioners prior to his therapy. If the attention experienced there helps them, he sees no problem in the offer of alternative practitioners. “But then we’re talking anecdotal evidence. Just because it helped me doesn’t mean it helps 80 percent of people.” Özdemir has a clear stance on esotericism and so-called alternative medicine: “There is medicine. This also includes naturopathic procedures. But everything else that doesn’t fall into this area isn’t medicine either.”

For him, part of the problem is the lack of therapy places that can be billed to health insurance companies – and the black market in cash seats. “People who retire now usually didn’t pay anything for their cash seat; they got it in 1990 when the Psychotherapy Act came into force.” There are now many applicants for these seats, which is why they are traded highly. In Berlin, one pays around 80,000 euros for a cash register seat. The therapist therefore runs a private practice.

40 percent of those seeking help wait three to nine months for a place in therapy. Those who need acute help and can afford it, switch to privately paid therapy offers, of which there are numerous. It is not easy for laypeople to distinguish between serious and dubious in this jungle. Although the professional title “psychotherapist” is protected in Germany, the term “psychotherapy” is not. Thus alternative practitioners can advertise that they offer psychotherapy.

The film on the subject is available at www.youtube.de/vollbild and in the ARD media library.