10 signs of therapeutic malpractice – Online Psychologists

Types of therapy in psychology There are almost as many as psychologists. Although psychologists adhere to a specific therapeutic current, each case is a world and as we said in this article, we must know how to adapt to the patient in front of you.

However, we must be clear that this heterogeneity of treatment typologies does not mean that anything goes in therapy. There are certain conducts, situations or behaviors that, as patients, we should not tolerate and they should warn us that whoever is serving us is incurring in a malpractice of the profession.

It is clear that there are people who are more approachable than others and that there may be psychologists who decide to give two kisses on the cheeks to their patients and others who simply shake hands. But if physical contact with the therapist goes beyond what you consider normal or It makes you uncomfortablewe may be facing a case of malpractice.

We are not referring here to sexual contact, far from it: an overly effusive hug, kisses that are not on the cheeks, Sought-after and unmotivated physical contact obvious: he holds your hands, strokes your hair, or simply sits very close to you.

The first thing you should do is tell him, in a nice way, that That contact makes you uncomfortable and you don't understand why it should be present in therapy. If the therapist gets upset or tries to convince you that physical contact is important to help you improve, and you feel that does not empathize with your discomfort, try changing therapists.

If your therapist is convincing you or has convinced you to see each other outside of the consultation, under the pretext of making a informal meeting and speaking in a relaxed manner, this therapist is engaging in textbook malpractice.

The patient-therapist interaction must occur always in consultation or because of it. That is, in cases of phobias, for example, it may be that in the initial stages the therapist accompanies the patient to confront his phobia, for example, of flying.

Meeting your therapist for coffee does nothing for the therapy.

The therapist invites you to collaborate with him In his office, he offers you the possibility of joining the workforce, for example, with an internship in his office, working as an administrator or receptionist in exchange for a small fee or, for example, free therapy sessions for you.

In this case, the therapist is making use of his or her position of dominance to benefit from your work for free.

Does the therapist tell you? explains things about other patients giving you details and without them having much or nothing to do with your reason for consultation? Well, he is incurring in very bad practice, in fact he is skipping the code of ethicswhich says that, like doctors, psychologists must maintain the Confidentiality of everything that is discussed during the consultation and only in the event of danger to the patient, bring it to the attention of the competent authorities.

Besides, who's to say that if he airs the lives of others like that, he won't do the same to yours?

You may get the impression that knowing something about the therapist's life will help you empathize more with him and therefore improve the therapy. This may be the case.

But if you feel like your psychologist is giving you too many details of his personal life unrelated to what you are telling him, or only very remotely so, you should consider looking for another one.

The therapist is not a friend, the therapist is a person who should listen to you and help you with your personal life, he should never project his personal life and, of course, he should never ask you for advice on what he should or should not do in his life.

The therapist should never give his patients expensive or expensive gifts. significant value on an emotional level. Of course, they may give you a book or an audio recording so you can do your relaxation exercises, for example, but be wary of the therapist if, for example, they give you a piece of jewelry, a new piece of clothing or a similar object, whatever the explanation they give you.

Unless it is because you cannot continue to afford therapy and your therapist decides to assume part of the costs of it, if the psychologist offers you great discounts or even doing free sessions simply because it's you, is committing malpractice.

The psychologist is a professional who charges for his services (unless he does so voluntarily and in a social assistance context), so if he offers you free services even though you can pay for them, he is paving the way for him to put himself above you, since if you do not pay him, you will not feel entitled to demand anything, since he is supposedly doing it in good faith.

The psychologist must attend to his patients regardless of the political or religious options that they hold. At no time should the professional question your religion or political stanceunless that is the cause of your discomfort.

Likewise, if the professional tries to make you see that your sexual orientation It is not adequate, or it is not acceptable and you should change it because, otherwise, neither can he/she give you therapy nor will you be able to be happy, you should look for another therapist.

If the psychologist tries to convince you that your beliefs are not adequate, that his religion is much more inclusive or better, if he tries to make you change your mind on political issues or influence you to do so, you are dealing with a clear case of therapeutic malpractice.

We should never accept being ridiculed or mistreated, but even less so if this comes from a psychology professional. The role of the psychologist is to help, encourage, and make us see clearly those points in which our life is not at its best.

But we must never let them do it. moral judgments about our behavior or being ridiculed for it. It is clear that the psychologist should help you understand what things about yourself are affecting you, but good therapy should never include humiliation towards the patient. If You don't feel respected by the professional on a personal levelit might be a good idea to look for another one.

A psychologist should not treat a person with whom he is personally involved out of consultation. So, if your psychologist implies that he has fallen in love with you or you have fallen in love with him, it is time to stop therapy. If he still insists on continuing joint therapy, he is committing professional malpractice.

The first thing you should do is inform the psychologist that what he or she is doing is not useful to you and that, therefore, you abandon therapy with him, but that you will look for another therapist. If you have already made that decision, do not let him convince you otherwise, because at this point of distrust between the two of you, it is very difficult for you to create a good therapeutic alliance and therefore that the therapy is successful for you.

Next you should let the college of psychologists the case and, if you consider it appropriate, file a complaint with the consumer service department. To this end, you will always need to request a proof of payment or an invoice showing that you were paying for that service.

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