Therapists at Risk: Perils of the Intimacy of the Therapeutic Relationship

Therapists are at risk, and the risk is increasing. Well-meaning practitioners used to believe that if they were adhering to ethical codes, and doing their best, they didn’t have to worry about being sued or brought before a licensing board. But numerous well-publicized cases, and even more settled outside the limelight of the press have changed all that. Therapists are now worried, and rightfully so. And all of this has happened at the same time that therapists are learning better ways to help very troubled patients who have often been severely abused and traumatized. Though these patients often require less rigid and more personal and creative approaches that may deviate from some proposed norm, they are also most often those who threaten legal action against their therapists. How does one engage intensely with these patients without being drawn into potentially destructive countertransference enactments? How does one remain a creative, spontaneous and helpful therapist while avoiding being pulled into a voracious and inhuman legal system? These are a few of the important questions addressed by this book.