The Section of Psychiatry in Private Practice was established in 1997 and given permanent status approval by the World Psychiatric Association in 1999. The main aims of the Section are to assemble an international network of mental health practitioners in private practice settings, to promote the essential values that characterize the spirit and ethics of private practice while at the same time placing emphasis on the continuous professional development and well-being of practitioners.

Section Goals
1- Promote the quality of care in private practice
2- Develop communication networks among practitioners around the world as well as between them and the scientific or other agencies relevant to their work
3- Promote intersectional and cross-regional dialogue and collaborations on topics of interest
4- Diffuse to practitioners pragmatic scientific developments that are significant to their daily practice
5- Investigate barriers to access of continuous professional development facilities and ways to overcome them
6- Encourage private practice professionals’ collaboration with public or community mental health services
7- Encourage practitioners’ liaison with organizations representing patients, their families and caregivers
8- Give visibility to ideas and findings deriving from clinical practice which are seminal for advances in the science of psychiatry
9- Investigate risk of burden, burnout and other mental health issues in private practice professionals and ways to prevent or manage them
10- Monitor political and economical issues influencing private practice