Therapist and the police

[MaggieB]

In my intake session with a TS therapist, he went over three things that will cause him to call the police and report me.
1) If he feels that I may hurt myself
2) If he feels that I will harm someone else
3) If he feels that I have or will molest a child

He said that these things are legal requirements. I have no real beef with them except that if I am despondent about my gender issues and confide in him, I fear that he will call the police on me. I have felt that I wanted to die many times because of the total anguish that I feel over having to live as a male. I think that is a major characteristic of GID for MTF's.  This made me very anxious to confide in him. How does one confide deep fears and pain to someone who may have me arrested for having them?

[Sarah Louise]

The therapist is required by law to report those things.  I doubt that he would report you for being "despondent", but if he feels you are going over the edge and ready to commit suicide immenently.  Then he will report it.


Sarah L.

[MaggieB]

So when your therapist mentioned those those possibilities, you still trusted her? This was the first thing he said to me.

[Kat]

As long as you don't sound like you are going to go home and kill yourself right after you leave his office, I wouldn't really worry about him calling the police on you.


I've talked with my therapist about my past and how I contemplated suicide at one point.  The thing was it was in the past and I don't feel like that anymore.  Talking about past anguish with your therapist is good.

[Sarah Louise]

The therapist can lose their license to practice if they do not follow those requirements.

No, my therapist did not say that to me on the first visit, it was posted right on the forms I filled out.  I joked with her about it. 

She knew that the only person I could ever harm was myself.  I was honest with her about my mood swings and I am sure there were times she had to use her best judgement about what to do when I told her I had thoughts of killing myself.

And yes, I have had the police come to my door on two different occasions, sent by CONCERNED friends. 


Sarah L.

[Steph]

So when your therapist mentioned those those possibilities, you still trusted her? This was the first thing he said to me.

Maggie these are legal requirements where you reside and elsewhere, stop being so defensive.  I realize that this is new ground that you are breaking but at this point I see no reason why you should not trust your therapist.  You have to give them a chance.  For what it's worth, I'm going through a divorce at the moment and our mediator (a lawyer) stated the same thing that she is required to report to the authorities if she suspects that either my ex or myself will harm ourselves or someone else.  It's standard legal stuff.

You must remember that the therapist isn't out to get you, trick you, or cure you.  She/he is there to listen to you and ask questions based on what you relate to her/him.  Armed with this information from your sessions a diagnosis can be determined.  But a word of warning it may not be the diagnosis you expect or want.

Just my thoughts

Steph

[MaggieB]

Thanks, I can deal with this aspect much better now.

Much appreciated.

[NicholeW.]

In my intake session with a TS therapist, he went over three things that will cause him to call the police and report me.
1) If he feels that I may hurt myself
2) If he feels that I will harm someone else
3) If he feels that I have or will molest a child

He said that these things are legal requirements. I have no real beef with them except that if I am despondent about my gender issues and confide in him, I fear that he will call the police on me. I have felt that I wanted to die many times because of the total anguish that I feel over having to live as a male. I think that is a major characteristic of GID for MTF's.  This made me very anxious to confide in him. How does one confide deep fears and pain to someone who may have me arrested for having them?

Maggie, being despondant and threatening to end your own life are two separate and hardly equal items. First, just to say: 1) I wanna kill myself, or, 2) I wanna kill Nichole, mean nothing in and of themselves. I am guessing every one of us has said such things.

Number one is not a suicide threat. Number two is not a threat of murder. mayhem or terrorism.

If the therapist has good training & experience, and you are not already hospitalized for homocidality or suicidality, then she/he is not gonna call the cops over those sorts of staements.

For suicide you are going to have to talk about a plan and show the means to carry the plan through.

For homocide you need to have some documented/documentable tendency toward aggressive violence toward others. Unless you have shown pathological tendencies toward doing that most therapists are not going to report you.

Of course, not all therapists are going to work on a sensible approach. So YMMV.

As for molesting and otherwise causing harm to children. If they think you could, or have, they have to turn you in. This is one not to test. You will wind up in jail and then the questioning will begin. Iy could take some time to sort out.

If a client feels suicidal and tells the therapist, that normally is the client asking to be stopped.

If you are ever in the position, then I would imagine you will discover at some point that you really did want the therapist to intervene. I doubt you will legitimately feel that the therapist betrayed you.

So, see your therapist and do not be overly concerned about those three items. They are federal mandates and all 50 states and every U.S. teritory or commonwealth complies with those provisions. And all licensed professionals in every state MUST comply with that code: doctors, nurses, lawyers, therapists (to include LPCs and L/LCSWs.)

HUGS.

Nichole