Amendment to the Psychologists Law, 5737-1977
Current legal definition: “The practice of psychology” – professional work in diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, and guidance regarding mental health issues, which are usually performed by a psychologist (holding a bachelor's degree, registered in the Psychologists Register).
Result: A severe shortage of therapists leading to delays in receiving treatment, prolonged suffering, extended impairment, and sometimes deterioration, harming the family economy at the micro level and the economy at the macro level alike.
Why change: The law was written fifty years ago; back then, there were no emotional therapies that have since been proven both research-wise and clinically to be effective (CBT, DBT, coaching, EMDR, etc.). In some cases, they are even more effective than the dynamic psychological treatment common in Israel in 2024. Patients suffering from emotional issues have no availability to receive subsidized emotional treatments through the HMOs. Waiting times for treatment currently range from ten months for subsidized care (HMOs) to many long weeks for subsidized private care (insurance companies).
Important to note: The Psychologists’ Association and "registry titleholders" oppose amending the law and even oppose enacting parallel legislation, the "Psychotherapists Law."
What needs to be changed: Enact the Psychotherapists Law, which will legally define who a speech therapist is, treatment authorities according to certification, and the recognition by the authority of new professions proven through research to be effective in treating specific disorders.
Purpose of the change: Recognition of the speech therapy profession as an effective therapeutic profession for treating emotional disorders. Recognition of the profession will, on the one hand, enable supervision of certification processes, study materials, and institutions authorized to conduct certification, and on the other hand, will allow for the reduction of waiting lists and the improvement of service to the general population.
Adding speech therapy to the health basket alongside classical speech therapy professions will make treatment accessible to audiences who currently wait many months for appointments.
It will expedite their admission to treatment and return to a productive routine, shorten waiting lists for additional potential patients who need senior clinical therapists, by freeing up appointments from those patients whom speech therapists can help, thereby relieving them of pain and suffering.
- + Providing treatment to the general public. Reducing treatment waiting times. Innovation in therapeutic approaches. Deepening regulation and supervision regarding the issuance of therapist certificates, reducing the heavy economic burden on the economy due to people leaving the labor pool suffering from emotional issues (proven by research in the UK)
- − The need for standardization in providing emotional and preventative care, and individuals with malicious intentions exploiting people suffering from emotional issues
A parallel proposal was attached by Ivan Semernin: "Analytical note 'On the need to create an accelerated mechanism for the integration of qualified psychologists who received their education abroad into the psychological assistance system of the State of Israel'."