How do psychologists charge their patients? The role of money in psychotherapy in Argentina.

• In Event: Social Studies of Money in Latin America II

Abstract

Argentina has a disproportionate number of psychologists for the size of its population, its level of economic development, and the strength of its social welfare services. In 2005 the country had 106 psychologists per 100.000, only seconded by Denmark (85). In Buenos Aires, there is one active psychologist for every 126 porteños. The psychology profession in Argentina has no official regulation of rates. Professionals work in a variety of modalities (insurance companies, private service, public health institutions, or as part of therapy centers) that demand different rate arrangements with patients. Some professionals have a fixed rate, others ask the patient how much they can pay, while others charge patients according to their income level. Like other transactions that mix the professional, the monetary, and the intimate, psychologists establish a way of charging that allow those three worlds to cohabitate peacefully. However, unlike similar professional relationships (care work, private tutoring, etc.), psychologists have a theoretical apparatus that helps them interpret payment, and which links the issue of money to classic taboos like sexuality and fecal waste. Payment also appears as a way of signaling patients and therapists the professional character of a relationship that is necessarily very intimate. Most important, the act of payment is usually part of the analysis of the patient, and it is often used to advance therapy. This presentation reports preliminary findings on the varied uses of the fee payment in psychotherapy, based on in-depth interviews with psychologists in Buenos Aires.

Author

• Daniel G Fridman, University of Texas-Austin