Call for Tougher Rules on Mental-Health Practitioners

People with flimsy certificates or no proper clinical training should be stopped from posing as therapists and treating serious mental-health problems, Dr Maryam Al Dhaen has said.

She called for far stricter rules on who can diagnose, assess or treat patients, saying the public must be able to tell the difference between psychologists, therapists, counsellors, coaches and unlicensed practitioners.

Her call follows a recent decision in Kuwait and comes amid growing concern over people selling unproven practices as treatment for anxiety, depression and trauma.

‘Once someone claims they can treat anxiety, depression, trauma or other psychological problems, the state has the right to require proper qualifications, evidence-based methods and clinical oversight,’ Dr Al Dhaen told The Daily Tribune.

She said proper rules would also make it easier to judge what happened when care went wrong. Patient records, informed consent, supervision, referral rules for suicidal or dangerous patients, duties of confidentiality and limits on advice about medicines would all help show if a practitioner had acted as they should.

‘A short course or an online certificate should not be enough for someone to open a clinic and start treating serious psychiatric problems,’ she said.

Dr Al Dhaen called for recognised degrees, supervised clinical training and firm limits on what each type of practitioner is allowed to do.

But she warned against treating all non-clinical qualifications in the same way.

‘Of course, there are qualifications that are recognised internationally, such as YMCA, VTCT and NVQs,’ she said, citing yoga qualifications offered in Britain. ‘We cannot wrong people who hold these certificates and are qualified to work with them.’

Dr Al Dhaen has previously called for stricter checks on Reiki healing, warning that it can give patients ‘false hope’, especially when sold as a substitute for recognised medical or psychological care.

She also took aim at social-media adverts linking gemstones and rings to what sellers call ‘hidden energies’ or ‘vibrations’.

‘You see claims that wearing a certain stone or ring can increase income, bring wealth, improve the chances of pregnancy, bring luck or success, or affect health and a person’s psychological state,’ she said.

Some claims go much further. Dr Al Dhaen said certain sellers even claim that ‘jinn’ or other unseen beings live inside particular stones or rings and can wield special powers over their owners.