Psychotherapy for which the patient is not charged, such as that
provided by the Veterans Administration system, can lead to unique
conflicts and resistances within treatment. Patients may depreciate the
value of therapy, feel obligated to the therapist, or expect him to make
inappropriate nonfinancial demands. The authors present five cases
illustrating that lack of a fee may become the focus of insoluble
resistances to therapy, and suggest that, particularly in training
situations, a token fee should be charged to obviate these
difficulties.Abstract Teaser