IMPORTANT FACTS

1. As of 2004, there have been more than 25 statutes enacted to address the increasing number of sex crimes committed by psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States, Australia (Victoria), Germany, Sweden and Israel.

2. Surveys conducted about therapy in Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom found that �the main problem is sexual abuse or humiliation.�

3. Not all medical boards recognize that a criminal conviction against a psychiatrist or psychologist should result in the permanent revocation of his or her license to practice.

4. Currently, if the professional�s college or association is aware of a member�s sexual offenses against a patient and fails to report the matter to the police, they are not held accountable.

CHAPTER FOUR What Should Be Done?

No progress can be made in the matter of patient sexual abuse until all such assaults by psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists are legally defined by statute as rape: the only required proof is that sex was involved.

Psychiatrists often claim sex with clients is �consensual,� though aware of their strong emotional hold over patients. But if someone has sex with a child, society recognizes the imbalance of power, knowledge and authority used by the adult and condemns the act as criminal. So it must be with a psychiatrist and patient.

Surveys conducted about therapy in Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom found that the main problem experienced by patients was �sexual abuse and humiliation.� In 1994, the Council of Europe�s report, �Psychiatry and Human Rights� urged that codes of conduct be issued to �stipulate explicitly that sexual behavior of the therapist/psychiatrist is forbidden. Such a behavior has to be qualified as abusing the dominant position of the therapist and abusing the confidence of the client.�

Patients should be provided written information on professional counseling standards and informed that any behavior outside those standards is inappropriate; that sexual abuse is criminal, not �boundary crossing.�

Any person seeking psychiatric �counseling� must have the right to videotape all consultations if they choose, and to end off any questioning or therapy at any time with no threat of reprisal.

In 2002, professor of psychiatry Glen Gabbard admitted, �The positive aspect of criminalization is that juries and the legal system may be more efficient at administering justice than some licensing boards or ethics committees.�

CCHR, along with other concerned groups and individuals, has campaigned for stringent laws to protect women and children against psychiatric rape. As of 2004, there have been more than 25 statutes enacted to address the increasing number of sex crimes committed by psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States, Australia (Victoria), Germany, Sweden and Israel.

Many of these statutes recognize that patient �consent� is not a defense and that the psychiatrist�s professional or fiduciary duty is seriously compromised when he or she enters into any sexual contact with a patient. Convicted psychiatrists can face up to 10 years imprisonment per incident and $20,000 in fines.

Convicted psychiatric rapists must be included in the rolls of registered sexual predators and child molesters, making their names public so that no further victims can be misled by their pretense of help only to be betrayed. Those who have experienced such abuse are the strongest voices for such measures and must be heard while still protecting their personal privacy. This could be done through closed-door hearings to bring about needed legislative reforms.

No child should ever be left alone in a room with any counselor, therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist. Any young person who has possibly suffered from sexual abuse is especially vulnerable and must be protected.

A parent or guardian must have the authority to end any interview, any line of questioning, any attempt to further upset the young person by any psychiatric counselor. The responsible adult must be informed of these rights and the criminal aspect of sexual contact between a counselor and a child.

Legislation must be passed which allows for the choice of turning to non-psychiatric counselors. Such laws would provide a legal option to parents, guardians, victims, attorneys, judges, social workers and child protective services, to turn to people who are not part of a morally corrupt mental health system.

The betrayal of a patient through psychiatric sexual abuse is not therapeutic or a �harmless� way to give the patient �self-esteem.�

Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus says, �This is intellectual bankruptcy compounded by moral paralysis. The assertion that sexual contact � may be therapeutic for the patient is self-serving and stupid. Using it to justify such sexual contacts is illogical and immoral.�

Psychiatrists and psychologists take trusting patients down a one-way road to destruction and, too many times, an ugly death by their own hand. The law is the law, written for the protection of the people. When one group sees itself as above the law, and convinces law enforcement of this, then no one is safe. It must be made clear, once and for all, no matter how privileged the psychiatrist rapist believes he is, rape is always rape.

�Consent is no defense. So even if it looks like the patient had a romance with the therapist, if it happened during the course of the professional relationship, it is a felony � statutory rape.�
� Dr. Gary Shoener, Director of the Walk-In Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

�When sexual seduction of patients can be firmly established by due legal process � the therapist should be sued for rape rather than malpractice, i.e., the legal process should be criminal rather than civil.�
� William Masters and Virginia Johnson

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