Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1066-1069
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Free psychotherapy: an inquiry into resistance
JL Nash and JO Cavenar
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.
