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International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
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Wrapped in Silence: Psychotherapists and Confidentiality in the Courtroom

Karin Gutiérrez-Lobos

University of Vienna, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Social Psychiatry, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Elisabeth Wagner

Brigitte Schmidl-Mohl

Brigitte Schmid-Siegel

University of Vienna, Department of Psychiatry, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

The impact of the Austrian Psychotherapy Act, which, in contrast to legal provisions in the United States, does not provide for any exceptions to breach confidentiality, is compared with the effects of U.S. law on dealing with confidentiality. The authors investigated the impact of this law in light of three common situations in psychotherapy that may jeopardize strict confidentiality: treating potentially dangerous patients, giving testimony, and serving as a psychotherapist in prison. Under the strict provisions of the Austrian Psychotherapy Act, a breach may be excusable in the case of a highly probable danger, but Austrian psychotherapists cannot be obliged to serve as witnesses or an experts in civil or criminal cases, as American psychotherapists can. Psychotherapy in prison, where release is contingent on the success of the therapy and the divulging of information could be in the interests of the patient as well as the court and the public, requires a modified dealing with confidentiality.

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 44, No. 1, 33-45 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X00441004
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