ABSTRACT
The “Accoyer Amendment” was passed on 8th October 2003. It claimed to introduce regulation of the exercise of psychotherapies, but did so without any prior consultation, thus spelling a threat for the future of psychoanalysis in France. Psychoanalysis came into existence at the start of the twentieth century. On 2nd October 2003, the Ministry of Health issued a statement announcing a “Comprehensive Mental Healthcare Policy” put together on the basis of the roadmap drawn up by Dr Cléry-Melin. Mid-November 2003 saw the drafting of a manifesto, the Manifeste Psy, bringing together practitioners of all persuasions: psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists. In mid-December 2003, the Minister for Health met, each in turn, the main psychoanalytic associations, followed by the psychologists and psychotherapists. In February 2004, William Dab, the director of the La Direction générale de la santé (DGS), was sufficiently satisfied with the assessment of the psychotherapies for him to hold a press conference on the Inserm premises.
