My
psychotherapist borrowed some of my writings, about myself and my emotions.
I no longer see him. I want the writings back but we ended on bad terms.
Those papers belong to me. Why hasn’t he voluntarily returned them to
me?
Whenever you give any writings or other papers to your
psychotherapist, everything becomes a part of your
clinical record.
Now, in the abstract legal sense, you “own” your clinical record,
but in the practical sense all the actual papers in the record belong to
your psychotherapist, and he has the legal obligation to keep everything
intact for several years after a case is closed. Therefore, those papers
you gave him no longer belong to you. They belong to him, and he has no reason
to return them to you.
You have a legal
right to see what is in your clinical record, though, because, as I just
said, you “own” your record. So, you could send a letter to your
psychotherapist requesting that he send you copies of those
papers.
If the writings
are in themselves some way unique or special (for example, if they contain
original artwork), then you might ask your psychotherapist to make copies
of your writings and keep them for the record, and then send the originals
to you. He’s not obligated to do this, but he could do it out of
kindness.
Furthermore,
if the material amounts to more than just a couple of pages, you should expect
to pay for the cost of the copying, the cost of the postage, and the cost
of the psychotherapist’s time to do all the work necessary. So mention
your understanding of this point if you make your request for the
material.
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
 |
|
|
|
If
this website has helped you, then