Seldomly will distressed individuals regain their mental health without professional help. Since they do not wish to receive assistance, due to the possibility of legal repercussions, they often follow a detrimental path. Finding themselves unable to resist their urges, they act out their aggressiveness. The targeted person gets harmed, or even worse, killed. Therapists therefore argue that a sharp increase in involuntary commitments and preventable crimes will be the secondary, long-term result of the imposed duty to warn.
Conflicting views between the legal and psychological professions have always existed. This is due to the nature of these opposite professions. The legal community restricts their views to verifiable, concrete, therefore empirical evidence only. The psychological community however cannot be that rigid. Mental health professionals deal with facts (reality), but they also have to deal with their clients emotions, beliefs and irrational beliefs. Empathy and trustworthiness play an important role when counseling clients. Courts and mental health professionals have something in common, they both try to protect the welfare of others. Legal practitioners look out for the well-being of the general population. This next statement perfectly reflects their view:
Hospitals and the medical sciences, like other public institutions
and professions, are charged with the public interest.
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