[LamensTerms]

Can anyone inform me as to the consequences of a mental health professionals abuse or neglect of psych knowledge within their private lives toward nonpatients?
Such as persistent abuse intended to push someone toward instability. Or using an isolated response to paint a false picture of historical instability. Or purposely putting someone into a traumatic situation and neglecting to acknowledge it because it suits your personal needs.

[CantExplain]

Professional standards generally do not extend into private lives. Some professionals lose their status if convicted of a felony.
I don't think a doctor could be struck off for being a bad mother.

[Leah123]

That's just someone using their knowledge to be mean...

Just like a doctor, lawyer, or any other human services professional could...

Professional ethics don't require folks to be nice in their personal lives.

As for abuse, well, if they're physically abusive, it would be a reportable, actionable crime just as it would for anyone else committing it.

If there is slander that damages livelihood or such, there might be a lawsuit in there somewhere I suppose, but it's expensive and difficult in many cases to pursue something like that.

If it's basically just someone saying manipulative, uncaring, false things, that's just someone to avoid.

[anilam]

No special consequence, so unless its stg illegal there's nothing you can do apart from removing yourself from the toxic environment.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by LamensTerms

Can anyone inform me as to the consequences of a mental health professionals abuse or neglect of psych knowledge within their private lives toward nonpatients?
Such as persistent abuse intended to push someone toward instability. Or using an isolated response to paint a false picture of historical instability. Or purposely putting someone into a traumatic situation and neglecting to acknowledge it because it suits your personal needs.

most treatment providers are taught as part of their training to draw a firm line where they do ......not .....bring their profession home whether or not they see and know whats going on. they have no choice for their own sanity to take a step back...the only real firm rule for treatment providers outside of their work place is that here in NY treatment providers are mandated reporters. that means when they see child abuse happening they must contact the child abuse hotline and then the child abuse hotline takes that child abuse complaint and does an investigation and determines whether its an abuse case or not. sometimes the treatment provider and those that the abuse complaint is against is contacted during the investigation sometimes not. thats the only time a treatment provider .....must .....do their chosen career during their private life. New York State defines a child as someone under the age of 18 that is still living in the parental home.

[Topiarysurvivor]

Actually, i believe a lot of mental health professionals have ethics that forbid any kind of dual relationship- for example, I'm a behavior analyst who works with individuals with Autism, but it would be unethical for me to write a support plan for my brother with Autism.

Just checking - the person has never been a client?

[unlockingsanity]

Originally Posted by anilam

No special consequence, so unless its stg illegal there's nothing you can do apart from removing yourself from the toxic environment.

Yeah, I agree with this, too.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Topiarysurvivor

Actually, i believe a lot of mental health professionals have ethics that forbid any kind of dual relationship- for example, I'm a behavior analyst who works with individuals with Autism, but it would be unethical for me to write a support plan for my brother with Autism.

Just checking - the person has never been a client?

here in New York state (the one in the USA as opposed to those in other countries) dual relationships are allowed. we have many many small towns where its not uncommon for people to grow up with each other, go to elementary, jr high, high school together, be friends go to college to become social workers, doctors, therapists, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists then return to the small town to be that towns school nurse, school psychiatrist, psychologist, be that towns doctors, and such. so they end up having to be the treatment providers of their peers, friends, relatives. many NY towns are many miles, hours drive away from nearest cities, hospitals mental health care. the town I grew up in my best friend is the school nurse and town nurse, anther friend of mine is the school psychologist and the town community psychologist both of which have to not only treat the new folks that move there but also generations of friends, family and peers they grew up around.

That is just cruel. I wonder if this professional is just doing that to their non-patients? If they use their knowledge in a bad way in their private life, the chances are good that they are using it in a bad way professionally too.

[Perna]

Don't know how one can know what another person's motives are, just what they look like to us and we're biased. If we think someone else is misbehaving toward us, we are the only ones who can query/stop/move away from that person if we check out our perception and see it is "right".

[Syra]

seems to me doing something with the intention of causing someone to become unstable (personal injury) is harassment, or the equivalent of a battery, perhaps criminal, perhaps civil. Just like a boxer's hands are considered lethal weapons, even though yours and mine aren't. If her purpose is to cause harm and injure someone, I don't think it's okay. I would think it would violate professional ethics also.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Perna

Don't know how one can know what another person's motives are, just what they look like to us and we're biased. If we think someone else is misbehaving toward us, we are the only ones who can query/stop/move away from that person if we check out our perception and see it is "right".

good point, many times I have been in therapy and have felt my therapist was wrong, just trying to upset me, just trying to make me dissociate, and other problems...but that was just my perception. it wasnt reality. my therapist was actually just doing her job of making me face my problems and come up with solutions to my problems. but as therapy sometimes does it brings hard feelings and hard problems to the surface so the first reaction can be my therapist is doing this on purpose, my therapist is trying to hurt me. Especially is the therapist is not letting the client have their own way / not allowing them to hide/run from their problems.

the only way to know for sure whether its our own perception vs whether a treatment provider is actually doing something harmful and unethical is by having that treatment provider investigated by their supervisor and the states ethics board (speaking only for how its done in the state of NY.)