After over seven years of litigation, MFTs have won an amazing victory in Texas. This morning, in a unanimous decision, the Texas Supreme Court held that a Texas MFT licensure board rule authorizing MFTs to diagnose was valid. This decision overturns a lower court’s decision, which held that MFTs did not have authorization to diagnose under state law.
The Texas Supreme Court found that like other mental health professionals, “MFTs in Texas are trained and qualified to perform diagnostic assessment using the DSM and are tested on that ability as part of their licensing requirements.” The court concluded that “every act that a physician may do is not automatically the unlawful practice of medicine when done by a non-physician, and terminology in one field may overlap with that of another.” The court also concluded that the ability of MDs to diagnose “does not preclude MFTs from making diagnostic assessments of emotional, mental, and behavioral problems.”
