by Giles on Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:30 am
Reading this with interest. Maybe the situation in Germany is of interest, as one example of how things are regulated...
In Germany anyone can offer ‘bodywork’, massage, Alexander Method, Feldenkrais Method, craniosacral bodywork and so on or also Asian methods such as yoga, qigong, reiki and so on (also ‘tai chi for health’) if they clearly state that this is for things like wellness, relaxation, well-being or also in support of general health, fitness etc. Here the market is basically unregulated. What you however cannot do is apply any descriptions or make any claims for such services that mention terms such as ‘therapy’, ‘therapeutic’, ‘healing’, ‘curative’, ‘treatment’ of any kind of maladies or complaints, ‘pain relief’, ‘mitigation’ etc. etc. In order to do this you have be either a doctor or accredited psychotherapist (for mental disorders) or a Heilpraktiker.
A Heilpraktiker translates as ‘alternative practitioner’ or ‘natural health professional’ and to get this qualification you have to pass state-administered examinations (written and oral) in conventional medicine, covering the basics of conventional anatomy, physiology, pathology and diagnostics. This examination is far less detailed than the examinations taken by a medical doctor during his/her training, but it’s still fairly challenging for the normal citizen. The idea is to ensure (in theory as least) that if people are going to apply some kind of alternative method to treat people who come to them with a medical complaint, then – irrespective of how skilled they are in the actually technique(s) they are treating with – at least they are not total idiots in terms of conventional medicine. In other words, that before setting the needles, massaging the meridians, prescribing the homeopathic globuli, tuning into the craniosacral mid-tide or whatever, they are capable of recognizing that the client/patient may, for instance, be in a critical stage of coronary disease, or has possible symptoms of TB or cancer, or seems to be in the grip of paranoid schizophrenia, etc. And thus takes appropriate action and sends them off the hospital, or refers them to a specialist, or whatever, instead of winging it with his own alternative method. Also meaning that in some cases the responsible practitioner will refrain from treatment at all, and simply send the patient to the appropriate parties. In essence, that an alternative practitioner doesn’t pose a potential danger to public health. In this sense the Heilpraktiker is a ‘negative qualification’. The Heilpraktiker is also subject to a range of related obligations and prohibitions. So this is how alternative treatment methods are currently regulated in Germany.
Do not make the mistake of giving up the near in order to seek the far.