Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Massachusetts

I received therapy from a woman who calls herself a body psychotherapist starting in 2006. It evolved to spending $500 a week, being an apprentice in a program she developed on her own, with the promise that money problems wouldn't prevent anyone from finishing the 4 year program. As time went on, she began to misinterpret things I said to her, called me rude, nasty, and refusing to cooperate. When 4th year apprenticing came around, she denied saying that she would consider a lower fee, but, in the case of others she allowed them to pay a lower rate to be able to finish. When I tried to clarify conversations when she misinterpretted me, she became angry, progressively increasing harsh replies to any attempts to restore communication telling me I was being manipulative. I was being abused. There was no way out. A year ago, in a group, when I disclosed in group that she had called me nasty, rude, and demanding, stood up, came at me, shouted "shut up"c came close to me, and swung her hand within inches of me.

She manipulated it so that her 12 year old son

started yelling "shut up", while I was cornered by

her, and group members. I was in terror. She

has no license to practice. She has a large

following of people, and is charismatic in her

promotion of her body "approach to

psychotherapy". I have not recovered from the

event. Do I have a case if she has no license to

investigate? I feared for my physical safety. She

turned the tables, used the members who were

vulnerable and influenced by her charisma and

threats. In addition, she consulted with another professional regarding my "behavior" without a release of information, violating state of MA HIPAA regulations. I received a call shortly after the traumatic event from a group member to inform me that she was "spreading bad press" about me. In other words telling people things that weren't true about me.


Asked on 8/15/10, 12:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

While the circumstances you describe probably present a classic "he said, she said" situation, the person's discussions about you to others may well have been improper and/or illegal, and, depending on the specific circumstances and fallout from the comments, may also have constituted defamation.

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Answered on 8/20/10, 6:25 am


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