Watch out for unregulated therapists in France

To the Editor, 

As an American clinical psychologist, working legally in France, I wish to raise awareness of an issue affecting the English-speaking community. 

Increasing numbers of individuals present themselves to the anglophone public as psychologists, psychotherapists, or counsellors without legal recognition by the French government.

Because they advertise only in English, many appear to be operating outside the scope of French regulation and awareness of the authorities. 

Similar concerns apply to self-described life coaches, who are in fact offering psychotherapy despite having no accredited mental health training, and to online platforms such as BetterHelp, which uses providers not authorised to practice psychotherapy here who may have no knowledge of local laws and care resources. 

This creates a real danger for vulnerable people seeking psychological care, who may reasonably assume anyone calling themselves a therapist or psychologist is properly regulated — when they may not be. 

The risks to the public — clinical, ethical, legal — are equivalent to those that French law was designed to prevent.

D.R., by email

Editor’s note: Indeed, we advise checking credentials. In France psychologue is a regulated profession and the term psychothérapeute also has set qualification requirements (‘psychopraticien’ is used by mental health professional body FF2P to designate those trained in certain approved schools). ‘Therapist’ and ‘counsellor’ are not regulated terms.