Patient protection and paternalism in psychotherapy

This chapter provides a synthetic overview of the ethics of paternalism in psychotherapy with a focus on involuntary hospitalization to protect patients from self-harm. Paternalism entails the intentional overriding of someone's preferences or actions on grounds of beneficence and nonmaleficence. After the emergence of autonomy in medical ethics, pa­ternalism is generally considered prima facie wrong, as it infringes on patient autonomy, trust, and right to informed consent. In particular, the use of paternalism in psychothera­ py raises a host of complex and delicate ethical issues due to the nature of the therapeu­ tic relationship and the difficulty to assess the autonomy of the person who will supposed­ ly benefit from the paternalistic intervention