Be aware.
Unfortunately the profession of the psychoanalyst (and the psychotherapist) in Cyprus is not legally registered. This means that anyone can name himself a psychoanalyst without necessarily having the qualifications and the long training that is demanded for someone to become a psychoanalyst.
Cases of charlatanism have been observed a number of times lately in Cyprus. The person who is interested in starting psychoanalytic therapy needs to know two things:
1. He could ask the psychoanalyst in which psychoanalytic training school he has completed his training. All psychoanalytic schools fall under European, American, or international accredited psychoanalytic associations. If, along your research, you realise that the school the psychoanalyst completed his training doesn’t belong anywhere, then you are not safe.
2. You could also ask the psychoanalyst in which psychoanalytic associations he is a member to. These associations also need to be accredited. For someone to be registered as a full member in such an association, he needs to fulfil certain criteria set by the specific association. In this way you can be assured that he psychoanalyst meets the necessary criteria to practise psychoanalysis. All Psychoanalytic associations have a member’s list where you could confirm if the psychoanalyst is registered there.
In Cyprus we do have the Pancyprian Association for Psychotherapists (PAP) where you can turn to if you need help from a psychotherapist. In PAP you can find psychotherapists from different modalities including the psychoanalytic one.
PAP website is: www.papsychotherapy.com