Outpatient psychotherapy with dangerous clients: A model for clinical decision making.

The precedent-setting 1976 judicial decision of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California established a duty to protect whereby psychotherapists are expected to exercise reasonable care to protect the potential victims of their clients' violent behavior. However, no standard of care for dangerous clients has been established. In this article, the authors present a model for clinical decision making to determine the best interventions for dealing with dangerous outpatient clients. The model takes into account the degree of violence risk and the strength of the therapeutic alliance. Four cases are presented to illustrate the application of the model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)