Many clinicians have advocated that therapists should pre-warn clients of the limitations of confidentiality prior to the initiation of therapy. Surprisingly, little attention has been given to arguments against prewarning clients. The present work notes that the act of prewarning may subvert the intent and effectiveness of numerous laws and legal rulings designed for the protection of innocent victims. Discussion is provided regarding how certain laws may have placed psychologists in the role of an agent of society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychological Association. (1981) Ethical principles of psychologists. Washington, DC: Author.
2.
EverstineL.EverstineD. S.HeymannG. M.TrueR. H.FreyD. H.JohnsonH. G.SeidenR. H. (1980) Privacy and confidentiality in psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 35, 828–840.
3.
FaustmanW. O. (1982) Legal and ethical issues in debt collection strategies of professional psychologists. Professional Psychology, 13, 208–214.
4.
Hare-MustinR. T.MarecekJ.KaplanA.Liss-LevinsonN. (1979) Rights of clients, responsibilities of therapists. American Psychologist, 34, 3–16.
5.
JagimR. D.WittmanW. D.NollJ. D. (1978) Mental health professionals' attitudes toward confidentiality, privilege, and third party disclosure. Professional Psychology, 9, 458–466.
6.
MuehlmanT.KimmonsC. (1981) Psychologists' views on child abuse reporting, confidentiality, life, and the law an exploratory study. Professional Psychology, 12, 631–638.
7.
ShahS. A. (1978) Dangerousness: a paradigm for exploring some issues in law and psychology. American Psychologist, 33, 224–238.
8.
SwabodaJ. S.ElworkA.SalesB. D.LevineD. (1978) Knowledge of and compliance with privileged communication and child-abuse-reporting laws. Professional Psychology, 9, 448–457.
9.
WiseT. P. (1978) Where public peril begins: a survey of psychotherapists to determine the effects ofTarasoff. Stanford Law Review, 31, 165.
