ABSTRACT
For the purposes of this chapter I distinguish between individual therapeutic responsibility and collective therapeutic responsibility. My concern will be with the second, although that both influences and is influenced by the first. Individual therapeutic responsibility is exercised by the practitioner in the encounter with a client or patient. Collective therapeutic responsibility is expressed in the formal rules or advice promulgated by organizations of practitioners which guide or restrain individual practitioners in encounters with patients or clients. The purpose of such rules or guidance is to control the standards of practice and behaviour of members. When those formal rules or guidance have statutory backing the constraints experienced by the practitioner are tighter because the sanctions which the professional body may exercise have legal authority.
