In our cover article we return to the theme of politics and psychotherapy – a subject that seems to preoccupy us more and more. How far can the lessons and wisdom of therapy inform political thinking? I remember being struck at last year's BACP Annual Conference by Dr Mike Shooter's passionate speech about his work with very deprived families in the old mining valleys of South Wales – the majority of clients he described were grappling with the despair of unemployment, family breakdown, alcohol and drug abuse. And I remember thinking, why on earth isn't this man a political activist and why aren't therapists who spend all day listening to the appalling stories of people's lives, motivated to do something about the social injustice or the social systems that are the root causes of many of these problems?

One example of a group of therapists who have campaigned for over a decade now to influence the political machine directly is of course Antidote, the campaign for emotional literacy. By concentrating on one specific area – education – they have been highly successful in actually persuading the Department of Education to take on board many of their ideas about the emotional environment children need in order to thrive.

In our article on page four Clare Pointon talks to Andrew Samuels, who was involved in setting up the group Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility and Nick Totton, Editor of Psychotherapy and Politics International, about their thoughts on the potential of therapy to influence the political world.

Sarah Browne, Editor