The right of the mental patient to be medically informed

Parallel to changes in the nature of the relationship between the physician and his or her patient, have been shifts in the mode of transmission of information to the patient concerning his or her illness. Historically, the therapist-patient bond was based on a complementarity of status: For the patient, ignorance and anxiety drew him or her to seek the help of a therapist for whom rationality and scientific knowledge were the basis of his or her response. In the more recent past, the patient's active involvement in the therapeutic process has been intensified. Medical paternalism has been progressively rejected. Treatment could thus be initiated only after informed consent was given, in the context of verbal transmission of information by the therapist to the patient and the patient's right to consult 'his or her own' medical records evolved. This article details the risks of such a right--especially in psychiatry--for the patient himself or herself, for the collateral sources who have transmitted confidential information to the therapist, and for the therapist-patient relationship.