title: Private psychiatry in Switzerland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Two-thirds of Swiss psychiatrists are engaged, either exclusively or partially, in private practice, a proportion that is higher than in other countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire survey of 1000 psychiatrists was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Psychiatrists in private practice display a greater degree of clinical 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 psychoanalytical orientation. Psychiatrists who have a mixed privatepublic practice &#45 more than half of them &#45 are even more psychoanalytically oriented than psychiatrists working exclusively in private practice. They act as an interface between the public and private sectors, playing a pivotal role as guardians of psychoanalysis, proclaiming its principles to psychiatric residents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the transformations taking place in the health care system, new care concepts are being developed, there is a wider variety of theoretical orientations, and the profession is therefore undergoing substantial changes. ( Int J Psych Clin Pract 2000; 4: 227 - 232).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guimon
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goerg
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zbinden