How Did Tarasoff Affect Clinical Practice?

Abstract

The Tarasoff decisions of the California Supreme Court in 1974 and 1976 held that psychotherapists could be held liable for failing to protect the victims of their potentially violent patients. Our survey of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers in eight metropolitan areas showed that Californians were more likely to have heard of the case, to believe it required warning the likely victim, and actually to issue warnings in such cases than were psychotherapists from other jurisdictions. Therapists were more willing to take steps to protect victims in 1980 than in 1975, but willingness to warn increased more among Californians than among those in other states. We conclude that although Tarasoff has influenced therapists' attitudes and behavior more in California than elsewhere, the case has also affected psychotherapeutic practice nationally.

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References

1. Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 529 P.2d 553, 118 Cal. R. 129 (1974).

2. Brief for the American Psychiatric Association, Area VI of the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association, Northern California Psychiatric Society, California State Psychological Association, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, California Society for Clinical Social Work, National Association of Social Workers, Golden Gate Chapter, and California Hospital Association as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petition for Rehearing of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1975).

3. Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 551 P.2d 334, 131 Cal. R. 14 (1976).

4. Ibid., p. 347.

Howard Gurevitz , “Tarasoff: Protective Privilege vs. Public Peril,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 134:289-292 (1977).

6. Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins , Deterrence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973).

7. William B. Schwartz and Neil K. Komesar , “Doctors, Damages, and Deterrence,” New England Journal of Medicine, 298:1282-1289 (1978).

8. For further details of sampling design and for selected portions of the questionnaire, see Daniel Givelber , William Bowers and Carolyn Blitch , “Tarasoff, Myth and Reality: An Empirical Investigation of Private Law in Action,” Wisconsin Law Review, 2:443-497 (1984).

National Association of Social Workers , “Code of Ethics,” in NASW Professional Social Workers' Directory (Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers, 1973).