Both Lawyers and Psychologists Have a Responsibility to the Confidentiality

question 13

Essay

Both lawyers and psychologists have a responsibility to the confidentiality of their clients. Even so, they must legally warn a potential victim of immanent harm. You are a psychologist who is working with a patient who suffers from dissociative disorder. Before he was medicated, he made violent statements about his ex-wife, who now lives in a different state. He is medicated now, and the threats have ceased, but he has told you that he had a troubling dream he drove for fourteen hours straight to murder his wife. How will you determine whether your ethical and legal responsibilities require informing the man's ex-wife of what he has said to you? Analyze your decision in detail.

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