ABSTRACT
There are several reasons for the continued domination of psychotherapy by medicine. One reason that is frequently put forward to justify the opinion that psychotherapists should be medically trained is the danger that a 'lay' therapist may fail to diagnose a physical illness which is causing his patient's distress. Methods of education, at all levels and for all ages, have been the subject of much controversy in recent decades, and the matter is by no means settled. While the practice of psychotherapy requires dedication, effort, and teaching, yet the qualities which are of most significance in one's capacity to do the work cannot be learned from books or a course of training in the way one could, learn clinical pathology. With increasing availability of psychotherapeutic help in the community - from the ordinary citizen to practitioners of experience - the focus on 'crisis intervention' rather than 'hospitalization' would be greater.
