Confidentiality in Group Psychotherapy: Empirical Findings and the Law

ABSTRACT

Empirical research suggests that group therapists generally discuss with prospective clients the importance of maintaining confidentiality, but are unlikely to inform them of the significant potential for violations of confidentiality. Therapists believe information about the risk of unauthorized disclosures will reduce the number of patients willing to enter group therapy and will inhibit the therapeutic dialogue. Therapists' failure to provide information sufficient to obtain informed consent, however, produces serious ethical problems and potential legal problems as well. The law of informed consent varies in different jurisdictions such that identical factual scenarios could produce different legal outcomes depending on the jurisdiction in which the case occurs. In spite of the proliferation of group interventions, empirical studies of confidentiality in group therapy have lagged behind similar research in individual psychotherapy.