PSYCHOTHERAPY AND DISCLOSURE - RECENT COURT-DECISIONS

Objective: To encourage mental health professionals concerned about th e practice of psychotherapy to add their voices to the legal debate on disclosure. Method: Analysis of recent court decisions, in particular 2 Supreme Court of Canada judgements, R. v. O'Conner and R. v. Carose lla, and I United States Supreme Court judgement, Jaffee v. Redmond. R esults: The lack of a common definition of psychotherapy may, in part, have made it awkward for mental health professionals to mount a conce rted defence of psychotherapy dossiers. Conclusions: Unless mental hea lth professionals develop a more robust justification and delimitation for privilege, in Canadian courts possible relevance of clinical mate rial is likely to override concern for the patient's privacy interest. Future research might evaluate the impact of loss of privilege upon d ifferent types of psychotherapy.