So, What Can Therapists Write About?

A response to Gary Greenberg’s op-ed, Should Therapists Write About Patients?

In an op-ed for the New York Times, psychotherapist and author Gary Greenberg recounts a recent mishap in writing about his patients. After obtaining consent and/or taking elaborate attorney-approved steps to render his patients’ stories unrecognizable even to themselves, Greenberg published about some of his work with patients. Despite his meticulous efforts, one patient identified himself in the book — not in any obvious characteristics…