Sex Crimes

A 1998 review of U.S. medical board actions against 761 physicians disciplined for sex related offenses from 1981 to 1996 found that psychiatry and child psychiatry featured in significantly higher numbers than other branches. While psychiatrists accounted for only 6% of physicians in the country, they comprised 28% of physicians disciplined for sex crimes.

A 1998 report on patient complaints issued by Sweden�s Social Board (medical board) found that psychiatrists were responsible for nearly half of the mistreatments of patients reported. Some were so gross�involv ing violence and sexual abuse�that they were referred to prosecutors for further action.

Between 10% and 25% of mental health practitioners admit to sexually abusing their patients. A U.S. national study of therapist client sex revealed that therapists abuse more girls than boys. The female victims� ages ranged from three to 17. For sexually abused boys, the ages ranged from seven to 16 years old.

Meanwhile, psychiatrists work hard to expand their referral business by influencing primary care medicine to use diagnostic checklists based on the DSM. As ethical practitioners are an essential part of a profession�s standing, it behooves non-psychiatric physicians to consider the likely reputational consequences for medicine itself.

�Suicide, stress, divorce � psychologists and other mental health professionals may actually be more screwed up than the rest of us.� � Psychology Today, 1997

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