Private psychiatry in Switzerland

INTRODUCTION: Two-thirds Of Swiss psychiatrists are engaged, either exclusi vely or partially, in private practice, a proportion that is higher than in other countries. METHOD: A questionnaire survey of 1000 psychiatrists was carried our. RESULTS: Psychiatrists ill private practice display a greater degree of cli nical activity, mainly With individuals, than do psychiatrists employed by public institutions; and they work principally within two practice profiles , psychoanalytical and generalist, and much less in the biological profile. They show a preference for the psychological model, mostly in a psychoanal ytical orientation. Psychiatrists who have a mixed private-public practice- more than half of them-are even more psychoanalytically oriented than psych iatrists wet-king exclusively in private practice. They act as an interface between the public and private sectors, playing a pivotal role as guardian s of psychoanalysis, proclaiming its principles to psychiatric residents. CONCLUSION: With the transformations taking place in the health cave system , new care concepts are being developed, there is a wider variety of theore tical orientations, and the profession is therefore undergoing substantial changes.