Bram Fridhandler, Ph.D.--Original Articles

Original Articles on Ethics

Click on titles below to read articles I have published, primarily in the newsletters of the San Francisco Psychological Association and Division I of the California Psychological Association. Please support these important organizations.

Some links in the articles no longer function.

Title	Summary
Ewing v Goldstein summary	A summary of the recent court decision requiring California therapists to consider third party statements in deciding whether to issue a Tarasoff warning.
HIPAA and Therapist Privacy: An Idea Worth Defending	A comment arguing that the HIPAA provision protecting the privacy of the therapist's personal notes from disclosure to patients is valuable and should be defended.
The impact of erosion of confidentiality on psychotherapy	Argues, consistent with the position of Bollas & Sundelson, that the erosion of the frame of confidentiality may have seriously damaged the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Informed consent forms: Who are they for?	A critique of the contractual language in many consent forms, focusing on the question: What does a "contract" have to do with helping patients make free and informed choices?
Reporting past abuse when the patient is an adult: Behnke and beyond	Praises the lawyerly reasoning in APA Ethics Director Stephen Behnke's inaugural "Ethics Rounds" column, but faults him and his co-author for losing sight of deeper clinical and ethical issues. Discusses the California Attorney General opinion that California law does not require such reports.
Responding to ethical violations by non-psychologists	Guidelines for situations in which a psychologist believes that a mental health professional who is not a psychologist has committed an ethical violation.
The Tale of Joe Lifschutz: Showdown Over Confidentiality	Psychiatrist Joseph Lifschutz, M.D., went to jail rather than reveal a patient's record. The case went to the California Supreme Court and beyond...
Williamson v. Liptzin and the weakening concept of the community standard of care	In 1998, therapists across the country were told they had to make sure that their patients complied with followup care or risk a malpractice judgment. (In December 2000, the decision was overturned.) The article presents the case and critiques the role of expert witnesses in the original decision.
Informed consent	Written with the CPA Division I Expertise Series Task Force. Published by the California Board of Psychology. The link will take you to the correct issue of the BoP Update (a large download). See page 15 for the article.