Confidentiality as a Requirement of the Therapist: Technical Necessities for Absolute Privilege in Psychotherapy
JOSEPH DUBEY M.D.1
1 Attending and Staff Psychiatrist, North Shore Hospital, Manhasset, N.Y., Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry, Cornell College of Medicine, New York, N.Y., and Attending Psychiatrist, Long Island Jewish—Hillside Medical Center, New Hyde Park, N. Y.
Privilege for the psychotherapist is a technical necessity for certain forms of psychotherapy. Psychiatrists are not legally protected from being compelled, in certain situations, to divulge information; therefore, their patients are in danger of either being embarrassed or of having their therapy subverted for secondary gain. There is an inherent conflict between the goals of the therapist and of the advocate and an incompatibility between the functions of treatment and evaluation. The author proposes that the communications and information of psychotherapy be excluded from public policy and that the therapist should not perform evaluative functions during litigation; if psychiatric information is necessary, it should be obtained from an independent court-appointed psychiatrist.
