Abstract

Confidentiality and Mental Health explores the theoretical and practical implications of confidentiality and disclosure for professionals working with people who have mental health problems. The contributors outline the theoretical, ethical, legal and professional issues which underpin decisions about confidentiality. They draw from their practical experience of a range of professional contexts including adolescent forensic psychiatry, criminal law, secure forensic psychiatry, child protection, community psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, social work and nursing.

People experiencing mental health problems may need to be able to present and explore deeply disturbing thoughts and actions in a safe therapeutic environment. Professionals may feel caught between individual service users' interests and those of the general public. These tensions can be magnified by the current emphasis on client empowerment and professional accountability, and increased demands for public information and public safety.

This comprehensive and topical volume will enable professionals, academics and policy makers to meet both the needs of clients and the demands of society through a responsible and thoughtful understanding of the significance of confidentiality and disclosure.

This volume will enhance the way you think about working with disclosure, confidentiality and the dilemmas which lie within.
Addiction Today
The book would be a worthwhile purchase for those practitioners wishing to examine the legal and ethical issues relating to confidentiality within their practice, and for health trusts wishing to have a source of reference relating to the topic.
Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
There is much the book that is highly relevant and useful. I found it informative and thought provoking and will certainly use it as a resource book for myself and my students.
Journal of Interpersonal Care
This book is not just a howl of protest, though the protest is there. It contains crucially useful case studies and advice about how these issues can be worked with in the current climate.
Therapeutic Communities
A stimulating book... I do urge you to read this book and to be stimulated to think through this current, very topical, issue.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy