ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that psychotherapy is itself very much constitutive in the construction of the discourse of regulation. It presents the White Paper as an example of risk-based regulation, which seems to be the preferred mode for regulating health professions. The chapter examines the theory of the “psy-complex”, a set of ideas developed mainly within sociology, and which helps to undermine the notion of a “monolithic state” that presides over and regulates society. It outlines Foucault, M. key arguments, and how they can help redefine the whole notion of the “state” and “regulation”. The term “state regulation” appears to suggest that there is an entity called the “the state” that is preparing itself to regulate the practice of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, as a discursive practice, “produces” governance and regulation through its actions. Several of the organizations are expanding, and taking on new staff, and all are now involved in the debate on statutory regulation.
