PSY 570 SNHU Week 8 On Being a Therapist Journal

 

 

Read the news article summarizing a court case in which a client stalked her therapist and review the resources on Dr. Kenneth Pope’s website for therapists who are being stalked, threatened, and assaulted by patients.

In your journal, discuss your thoughts on the risks faced by therapists working in the field.

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Were you aware of these situations faced by mental health professionals? Did any of the research findings presented by Pope surprise you? Explain your thinking. PSY 570 SNHU Week 8 On Being a Therapist Journal

New articleThis story is a composite of the versions published in the various zones.A woman with a history of psychiatric troubles pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to stalking her psychologist and was promptly sentenced to 20 months in prison.Alicia M. Floyd, 29, had carved the psychologist’s initials into her arm and dressed all in black for two trips from her Wisconsin home to the psychologist’s west suburban residence in May 2000, prosecutors said.Authorities alleged Floyd had a kitchen carving knife with her on the first trip and planned to kill the psychologist and herself.But Floyd of Oak Creek, Wis., testified Thursday that she had lied when she told a psychiatrist and a police officer about having a knife with her “because I was really looking for help.”U.S. District Judge William Hibbler pointed out that in a diary of Floyd’s seized by authorities, she had recounted the first trip to the psychologist’s home in great detail but didn’t mention having a knife.Assistant U.S. Atty. John Kocoras said Floyd, a U.S. Navy veteran who was undergoing treatment at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Milwaukee, had become angered after the psychologist refused to answer questions about her personal life.When the counseling session at the medical center ended that day in May 2000, Floyd prevented the psychologist from leaving the room and a VA police officer had to intervene, according to her plea agreement with prosecutors.Later that same day, Floyd drove to the psychologist’s Elmhurst home dressed in black clothing and boots, parked her car two blocks away and viewed the victim’s residence through binoculars, Kocoras said.She left a satin rose on the doorstep of the psychologist’s home and returned to her Wisconsin residence late at night, writing in her diary, “It’s midnight and I just went through the coolest six hours.”Late that month, Floyd was arrested after she showed up at the psychologist’s home in the evening and the victim called police after holing up with her young son in a bathroom, authorities said.Floyd’s lawyer, John Houlihan, said his client suffers from borderline personality disorder and believed the psychologist was the only person to whom she could turn for help.The psychologist testified Thursday that the ordeal had changed “my life … forever.””The horror I felt as this unfolded and the sense of dread that remains with me are hard to describe,” she said.In addition to prison, Judge Hibbler barred Floyd from any contact with the psychologist. He also ordered her to pay the psychologist $358 in restitution–the cost of installing a home-security system.Word count: 460(Copyright 2001 by the Chicago Tribune) PSY 570 SNHU Week 8 On Being a Therapist Journal