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This is a valuable handbook with reference sections and tables which are easy to use. It sets out to challenge the threat of ‘legislation of therapy’ feared by Bollas and Sundelson in The New Informants (1995), with an alternative approach that an understanding of the law, and a closer relationship with it, represents something of an opportunity for therapists to further development by entering a debate. The book's author attended the first conference of the British Confederation of Psychotherapists (BCP) in 1995, which had a similar aim. Tim Bond, a previous chairman of the British Association for Counselling, in his foreword, states that ignorance of the law is no defence, but goes on to observe that ethical standards tend to meet legal requirements, even without a prior extensive knowledge of the law.
A threat to the confidentiality of our work as psychotherapists commonly sets off a highly charged reaction in the therapist in the interests of its preservation. However, this reaction should not be at the expense of thinking and reason, and in any individual situation it must be kept clear what is being discussed. Under the blanket term ‘confidentiality’, this often becomes blurred. This book manages to set out very clearly the different areas under consideration. The main ones are: where the therapist is custodian of confidential information and whether or not in certain circumstances which are precisely defined there are grounds for disclosure (Chapter 4: Confidentiality, Privilege and the Public Interest); and the opposite situation, where external agencies are demanding disclosure (Chapter 5: Access to Records and Disclosure of Information). The latter situation can include the patient's wish to see his own records. These two chapters thus define the limits of confidentiality. It is surprising how entangled these separate areas can become, in a discussion where one party may be worrying about the former and the other about the latter.
These two central chapters