[LittleBird42]

Thought it may be useful to post this quote from Simon & Shuman (more about them below). It really sums it up. As much as we may not like to hear or believe it...

"No patient is strong enough, no pause is long enough, and no love is true enough to justify compromising this [patient/therapist] relationship."

____
From the 'Clinical Manual of Psychiatry and Law', by noted forensic psychiatrist Dr. Robert Simon and legal scholar Daniel Shuman, both recipients of the Guttmacher Award

[unaluna]

Now THAT should be a sticky! Thanks for this!

'No patient is strong enough'?

It's precisely because I am not strong that I must date T

[Daystrom]

I'm not impressed. What does this quote even mean? On what grounds do they assert this? Who speaks for the client and what he/she goes through, while a psychiatrist and a lawyer are reminding therapists simply to keep their own asses covered?

[magicalprince]

I think that is very cynical and just not always true. Usually true? Sure, but there are no absolutes, life is not that simple.

[Petra5ed]

I don't want to argue the opposite of this quote, but I would say there are no absolutes in life. "No patient strong enough." Well... Except all the ones who did sleep with their Ts and went on to become famous therapists themselves. "No love true enough" well... Except those cases where a T married an ex client and their relationship worked.

[LittleBird42]

Hi all,

Didn't mean to upset anyone - I had/have feelings for my Psych - I searched online to find similar stories; which I found. Most had said the T and themselves did cross the boundary with disasterous results. And most literature and thinking is that is completely inappropriate. It is a violation of doctor/patient trust. I don't mean to be cynical - more protective.

As much as you may have feelings for T, which can be worth expressing within the therapy room, in the most part, better to be aware that such an encounter is a boundary violation by your T.

It's not you that causes it. You are not to blame if boundaries are crossed. I thought that quote summed it up quite well. We enter T in a position of vunerability. And never forget you are paying $$.

I'm sure there are execeptions to the rule - I'd be interested to hear any that occured between a patient and psychiatrist from year 2000 onwards - does anyone know any that worked?

LB