The board of the Federación Española de Asociaciones de Psicoterapeutas (Spanish Federation of Psychotherapy Associations), during a meeting held on May 1st, has taken notice of the disciplinary proceedings brought by the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid (Official Medical Association of Madrid) against D. Alberto Fernández Liria and D. Ángel Sáinz Aiz, both collegiate members of the mentioned association, for the possible violation of articles 2, 4, 6, 18, 20, 31, 33 and 34 of the Medical Code of Ethics and Deontology in effect, and 45 a) of the Collegiate Statutes.
Without intending to evaluate the content of said articles, since it clearly escapes our competencies, it is our opinion that none of them makes reference to the psychologist’s professional functions, as it couldn’t have been any other way, since they are concerned with documents sent to, and prepared by, the medical profession. In turn, the psychologist’s functions are regulated and compiled in different documents presently in effect, both nationally and internationally, of which we will only mention, with the purpose of being concrete and brief, the different study programs of the Spanish Universities for the Bachelor’s and PHD Degrees in Psychology, the Training Program of Intern and Resident Psychologists (PIR) approved by the Departments of Health and Education since 1995 and published by the Department of Health in 1996 in the "Specialists’ Training Guide",  Royal Decree 2490/98 which creates Clinical Psychology as an specialty in Spain, in addition to the several documents in this regard prepared by the Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos (Official Psychologists’ Association), among others, which coincide with the majority of those published in the countries around us.
All these documents recognize the special training of psychologists for the performance of functions related to the psychological evaluation, diagnostic and treatment of mental, behaviour and personality disorders.
 Consequently, the performance of such functions cannot be considered in any case and under any circumstance as professional intrusion in the realm of psychiatry nor in any other health profession or field, considering that, since de Homeo of its formation, the psychologist is receiving specialized training for the functions mentioned above, which precisely configurates the specific scientific and professional role of Psychology since its appearance in the scientific scene in the XIX century.
In addition to the aforementioned, it must be emphasized that this Federation specifically contemplates the special qualification of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists for their training and practice as psychotherapists, understanding psychotherapy as the psychological treatment of mental disorders.
According to all this, we consider that the stated arguments in said proceedings lack entity and, moreover,  set themselves apart from the scientific, professional and legal reality supported by Royal Decree 2490/98, which creates and regulates the Health Speciality of Clinical Psychology in Spain, and which now Homea its development since the publication of the Ministerial Order which makes operative its application, published in BOE 119 this past May 18 (OM 1107/2002 of May 10).
The actions of Dr. Fernández Liria (a member of this Federation) do not fall within the closing of competences, but in opening them to professionals capacitated for their performance. At least in this regard it is remarkable that the start of this disciplinary proceeding is framed within a strategy of excluding power, not competences.
In accordance to all this, this Spanish Federation of Psychotherapists wants to state that those psychologists in health institutions and services are fully capacitated to perform the professional functions of psychological evaluation, diagnostic and treatment, which cannot be in any way considered as “intrusive” by the Official Medical Association. Using this as the basis for disciplinary proceedings against Doctors Fernández Liria and Sáinz Aiz, is, at the very least, a serious scientific and professional mistake.