The draft law on psychological assistance is being prepared for introduction at the spring session of the State Duma

The draft law on psychological assistance for Russians should be submitted to the State Duma for consideration in the spring session, recommended members of the working group under the parliamentary committee on family protection, issues of paternity, motherhood and childhood. There is a call to exclude from the document all controversial issues that have been preventing its approval for the last two years, but in fact for 30 years. In the framework version, the members of the working group intend to leave the most important things: types of activities, status, rights and responsibilities of specialists. In addition, the legislation may also require mandatory psychological assistance in the divorce process, as well as when drawing up a loan agreement, the creation of centers for comprehensive psychosocial rehabilitation of children and families of participants in a special military operation, as well as children with post-traumatic stress disorder from new constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

It was planned to introduce a bill on psychological assistance in Russia to the State Duma back in 2022, before the end of the autumn session. As Kommersant previously reported, specialists, including psychologists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and experts from the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University, prepared five versions of the document. Their content coincides by 95%, the remaining 5% are “nuances” that the professional community argues about. One of the main subjects of debate is the requirement for the level of education of psychologists. The developers want to allow only those who have completed a specialized specialty, bachelor’s or master’s degree to be called this way. But experts, primarily private practitioners, point out that over the past 30 years, many personnel have been trained who do not have a formal basic psychological education. If the law does not take this into account, up to 20% of practicing psychologists may end up in the illegal field, they warn.

During these same three decades, we note that attempts to legislatively regulate the sphere of psychological assistance have not stopped in Russia. The President of the Russian Psychological Society, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University Yuri Zinchenko said that the bill was first considered in the Supreme Council (abolished in October 1993). The last attempt to introduce a draft on psychological assistance was made in 2014, but it was also rejected. Due to disagreements, the document stalled at the development stage this time too. At the end of last week, within the framework of the Committee on Family Protection, Issues of Paternity, Maternity and Childhood of the State Duma, a meeting of a specially created working group was held to advance the process.

The head of the working group on the psychological well-being of the population under the committee, Alexei Bogachev, expressed the opinion that the speedy adoption of a law on psychological assistance is a matter of national security. According to him, the need for the services of psychologists has increased, but at the same time, a large number of “ghost firms” have appeared that issue diplomas for professional retraining as a psychologist “in two days.” President of the All-Russian Professional Psychotherapeutic League Viktor Makarov confirmed that psychology is “fashionable and popular in our society.” According to him, in 2013–2014 there were from 23 thousand to 26 thousand psychologists in Russia. In 2022-2023 – already from 67 thousand to 76 thousand. And by 2028, according to Mr. Makarov’s forecasts, the number of psychologists in the country could reach 150 thousand. Moreover, today about 50 thousand specialists are engaged in private practice, and By 2028, their number could grow to almost 90 thousand.

It is privately practicing psychologists who are criticized the most, noted Viktor Makarov. He clarified that he received a “flurry of indignation” from colleagues about each version of the bill, because private practitioners who have undergone professional retraining see this as an attempt to “throw them out of the profession.” Member of the Presidential Council of the SRO “National Association for the Development of Psychotherapeutic and Psychological Science and Practice “Union of Psychotherapists and Psychologists”” Viktor Tyutin added that private practices “are in favor of regulating the profession, but are categorically against administration.” In the bills, he said, the emphasis is on administration.

In the resolution following the meeting, the working group proposes to develop and introduce amendments to federal legislation that would define the status of self-regulatory organizations of psychologists with mandatory or voluntary membership. To improve the quality of regulation of activities, psychologists and psychotherapists working in the non-state sphere and in private practice, according to group members, should undergo regular assessment of qualifications on an industry basis.

The chief physician of the Central Clinical Hospital “Child Psychiatry” named after S. S. Mnukhin, Marina Romanovskaya, considers it necessary to also make changes to the law “On Education in the Russian Federation” for “systematic training” of educational psychologists. She said that specialists from the Mnukhin Center, consisting of six teams, traveled to new territories and, as part of a medical examination, examined 10 thousand children from Mariupol and the surrounding area. 80% of them were diagnosed by psychologists with PTSD. “Therefore, the law is vital for us,” stressed Mrs. Romanovskaya. “Medical psychologists have stopped coping. They can make a diagnosis, but the educational psychologist must guide the child, correct behavior, and help if family relationships are disrupted. Plus, suicides are increasing threefold.” In this regard, the working group proposes to amend the order of the Russian Ministry of Health “On approval of the Procedure for providing medical care for mental disorders and behavioral disorders”, adding the staffing levels of educational psychologists to the staffing table of children’s psychiatric hospitals and children’s psychoneurological dispensaries. Social activists also consider it advisable to grant early retirement to educational psychologists by analogy with teaching staff. Other proposals of the working group include the introduction into legislation of mandatory psychological assistance in the divorce process, when drawing up a loan agreement, the creation of centers for comprehensive psychosocial (medical and psychological) rehabilitation of children and families of participants in a special military operation, as well as children with post-traumatic stress disorder from new subjects RF.

In the final resolution, the working group proposes to speed up the process of finalizing the draft federal law “On psychological assistance to the population in the Russian Federation” and submit it for consideration by the State Duma in the spring of 2024. At the same time, all controversial issues should be “thrown out of the bill,” as Alexey Bogachev noted, and the most important things should be reflected in the “framework version”: types of activities, status, rights and responsibilities, qualification requirements of a psychologist and psychological consultant in Russia. According to Mr. Bogachev, the deputies will be able to finalize the document by the second reading.

Natalia Kostarnova