The tree of cure. Setting and psychotherapy in the public service

Abstract

This article analyses the role of psychotherapeutic practice in the Italian public health service. The author proposes how is possible to adapt the psychotherapeutic practice to different contexts if the non conscious dimension is not denied in the reliable framework of psychotherapeutic relation. The paper also briefly describes the contrasting setting of urgency or programmed intervention. Moreover, the psychotherapeutic competences that psychiatrists must acquire are thoroughly analysed. These are fundamental in order to avoid the psychiatrist to be considered secondary to psychologists in the context of the regional health service.