Psychotherapy and Confidentiality: Testimonial privileged communication, breach of confidentiality, and reporting duties

doi:10.1056/NEJM199903113401023

Volume 340:820-821		March 11, 1999		Number 10

Psychotherapy and Confidentiality: Testimonial privileged communication, breach of confidentiality, and reporting duties

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By Ralph Slovenko. 640 pp., illustrated. Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, 1998. $79.95. ISBN 0-398-06827-5.

The promise of clinical privacy that is part of the HippocraticOath contains an escape clause. "All that may come to my knowledgein the exercise of my profession . . . which ought not to bespread abroad," takers of the oath affirm, "I will keep secretand will never reveal." But what things "ought not to be spreadabroad," and who is to judge?

American medicine increasingly faces such questions, and psychiatrists(and other mental health professionals) are often on the frontlines. Third parties want to know what people tell their psychotherapists— and what therapists think . . . [Full Text of this Article]