World Council for Psychotherapy

The World Council for Psychotherapy (World Association for Psychotherapy) is an NGO with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It was founded in 1995, has its headquarters in Vienna and holds a World Congress every three years, with more than a thousand participants.

The main objectives of the association are the promotion of Psychotherapy on all continents (based on the Strasbourg Declaration on Psychotherapy in 1990), to improve the conditions of patients, to cooperate with national and international organizations to improve crisis management and peacekeeping, and to unify world training standards. Members are both psychotherapists and organizations. President of the WCP is Alfred Pritz.

The World Certificate for Psychotherapy (WCPC) is only awarded on the basis of recognized psychotherapy training and aims to encourage mobility within the profession. Each year, together with the city of Vienna, the Council awards the International Sigmund Freud Award for Psychotherapy.

Literature

 * Alfred Pritz (Ed.): Globalized Psychotherapy. Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85076-605-5.
 * Ganesh Shankar: Psychotherapy. Yoga and traditional Therapies of East and West. Jagdama Publ., New Delhi 2004, ISBN 81-88780-09-X.