ICP Registrant’s Day 24th June 2017 – a reflection by CEO Ms Jean Manahan

The second annual ICP Registrants’ Day took place in the Red Cow Hotel on Saturday 24^th June; the morning session with Joseph Knobel Freud on ‘The issue of diagnostic labels’ was both interesting and provocative. Plenty of time was given for questions and commentary from the audience which meant the session was lively and enriched with insights from participants and speaker alike.

I was particularly struck by the question whether labels can be either useful or abusive and the conclusion seems to be both. A further question needs to be asked when making a diagnosis – is it describing disorders or symptoms? It depends on the use we make of labels but what is clear is that when they describe symptoms, we need to understand the fluidity of those symptoms and the fact that change is always present therefore a diagnosis can never be static.  I liked the parsing of the word – ‘dia’, = through and ‘gnosis’ = knowledge.

Diagnosis

dia = through & gnosis=knowledge

This highlights the need to avoid a closed diagnosis which cuts off possibility and development. In summary a person is a person with all that that entails and not a label which stereotypes and predetermines outcomes or who that person is.

The afternoon session which involved group work asking the participants to answer a number of questions, was again a very lively affair. The feedback from the groups will feed in to the proposed White Paper to be presented to Government on the necessity for Psychotherapy to be easily available and accessible to people around the country based on need. Many thanks to all who contributed. The feedback will be circulated to participants shortly.

I’m looking forward to the ICP Conference in the Autumn – keep an eye on the ICP website Conference 2017 page for news.