Political Mind Series 2025 | “Policing the analytic space: the BPC code of practice and its new “no go areas”

What happens when ethics, values and beliefs come into conflict in the clinic?

The new BPC Code of Conduct comes into effect for all registrants on 1st April 2025. It sets out clear standards on what we must and must not do. Standard 5, for example, states: “You must not offer, practise, or advocate conversion practices. However, there is disagreement over what qualifies as a conversion practice, and sharp conflict over whether this should apply to gender identity as well as sexual orientation. Other requirements in the code will likely be less contentious. Standard 4, for instance, prohibits discrimination, stating that we must: Not let (our) own religious, moral, political, or personal beliefs and values prejudice or adversely affect the treatment provided to a patient. Yet, ongoing court cases challenge how this applies to gender reassignment. Specifically, can it be considered discriminatory if a clinician holds the belief that biological sex is exclusively male or female? The code also reiterates our safeguarding duties. Standard 3 requires compliance with legal obligations regarding the protection of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. However, the Crime and Policing still under debate in Parliament may introduce a new criminal offence for failing to report sexual abuse. But what if a patient does not want their therapist to report?

This raises a fundamental question: How do we balance the need for regulation and legal compliance with clinical freedom, professional judgment, and shifting societal norms?

Jeremy Clarke CBE is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, Chair of the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Public Sector, and Clinical Director at Albany Trust. He also serves on the British Psychoanalytic Council ethics committee. His early career was shaped by political challenges, particularly Section 28 under Margaret Thatcher.

Under New Labour, his career took a different direction. In 2007, alongside Lord Layard, he played a key role in shaping IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). As a National Professional Adviser at the Department of Health, he contributed to the development of NICE -recommended therapies, including Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, and has reflected on these experiences in psychoanalytic journals. 

He has been deeply involved in LGBTQ+ activism and identity politics. As Director of GALOP in the early 1990s, he established the London Lesbian and Gay Policing Initiative, which continues today. More recently, as Deputy Chair of the Memorandum of Understanding against Conversion Therapy, he led discussions to secure an exemption for regulated therapists from proposed criminal bans. He has published on sexual and gender identity and the Oedipus complex.