Expert: Law "On Psychological Assistance" Insufficient

Baku / 08.12.18 / Turan: The Azerbaijani parliament adopted the Law on Psychological Assistance in the third final reading.

The document defines the legal framework for the provision of psychological assistance, establishes the rights and duties of psychologists, and regulates the relationship in this area. The law lists the categories of persons who can rely on grant psychological assistance.

According to the expert, psychologist Azad Isazadeh, the need for such a law was great, because there were no specifics, and everyone acted on their own.

He noted that the concept of "psychological assistance" is multidimensional. Psychologists use different methods, tests, and tools. The psychological help itself varies for athletes, students, the military, and people suffering from nervous breakdowns, and the mentally ill. Persons of these categories cannot be helped by the same methods. There is a need for the functioning of specialized centers of psychological assistance in specific areas. However, this question is not reflected in the law, and in this sense, the document is half-hearted.

The law focuses more on administrative measures - the introduction of prohibitions, the creation of commissions, conducting medical examinations. However, all this does not give results in terms of psychological assistance, the expert believes.

In his opinion, to eliminate this gap, the methods used in the West should be used and specialized psychological assistance centers should be created. -05C06-