</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
“Psychotherapy Notes" are only for the therapist's reference. Anything kept with the patient's records are fair game for the patient and are accessible by federal law. - Simcha.

Not true about psychotherapy notes as therapist's reference only.

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I was trying to make a distinction as to the legal argument of just what is "psychotherapy notes." The APA is not the definitive source for anything, and they only have guidelines. The legal standard is the definitive source, as you already pointed out, didn't you? State laws and federal laws (whichever one is stricter) provides the definitive standard.

What psychotherapy notes ARE is what I was trying to define, albeit I must have done it poorly judging by your harsh reply.
Here... PsychCentral has an article~~ !! YAY!
Link:
HIPAA and Psychotherapy Notes

I like this webpage on privacy too: Jaffee v. Redmond.org

Bottom line for me is that people become empowered to know their rights, and that's what is important.