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Can deception be therapeutic?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Larry Culliford
Larry Culliford*
Affiliation:
South Downs Health NHS Trust, Brighton BN1 3RJ
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Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 26 , Issue 7 , July 2002 , pp. 276
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Copyright © 2002. The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Sir: In their letter, Gralton and Sandford (Psychiatric Bulletin, March 2002, 26, 114) admit withholding information from their patient, suggesting, however, that she ‘was not told a lie’.

It was impressed upon many like me in our school-days that to tell less than the truth is to tell a lie. If we, as a profession, reject this version of the matter, might we not reasonably be accused of attempting to deceive ourselves?

Public confidence is paramount, so to defend deception under any circumstances is a risky business. Why take chances?

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