Would a psychiatrist really be shagging a patient?

[JenniferL90]

Because apparently a friend of mine is deeply in love with hers and they have great sex.....a lot.

I find it really hard to believe (isn't it really common for someone to fall in love with psychiatrists etc) but she's off numerous times a week to meet him. Sneaking about etc.

She's married and he's apparently getting married next year. (But out of duty and apparently he doesn't have sex with the woman he's marrying......)

It just seems so unlikely.

I do daydream about sending either her husband or the psychiatrist a letter outing it all. But I think I'm the only person who knows and I don't want to be a part of the fallout.

Big difference is that GMC can't investigate psychotherapists. Only medically qualified doctors registered with them. The OP can check their register if she knows his name.

But the employer and other professional bodies can investigate.

The point about ‘therapist/counsellor’ not being a protected title and not having compulsory registration shouldn’t desist someone from reporting abuse (although it does make it a bit more complicated).

What it does say is something awful about the psychotherapy profession.

But if you are not qualified or accredited then you don't have an ethical framework within which you are obliged to work - therefore you haven't actually broken any rules other than the general rules of what society deems ethical, i.e. sleeping with a vulnerable person who has come to you for help. To whom are you going to report a therapist who is not accredited?

Yeh - if the clinician in question

1. doesn’t belong a profession that has a compulsory register
2. isn’t a member of a voluntary register (eg BACP)
3. isn’t employed by anyone else

Then reporting them would be tricky. (Although they may well be on a review site of some sort)

But you’re pondering if all three above criteria are met? Why the pedantry?