Background: The legal and ethical guidelines of psychological professional associations stipulate that informed consent by patients is an essential prerequisite for psychotherapy. Despite this awareness of the importance of informed
consent, there is little empirical evidence on what psychotherapists’ attitudes towards informed consent are and how
informed consent is implemented in psychotherapeutic practice.
Methods: 155 psychotherapists in Switzerland completed an online survey assessing their attitudes regarding
informed consent.
Results: Among the surveyed psychotherapists, there was a high consensus on important information that should
be communicated to patients in the context of informed consent. Almost all psychotherapists rated confdentiality and its exemptions (95%) and self-determined decision-making (97%) as important. The importance to disclose
information regarding fees and the empirical efectiveness of the provided treatment, were both seen as important
by more than 80% of participants. The disclosure of personal information about the therapist was rated as important
by 60%. Other aspects, which are not direct components of informed consent but rather overarching goals, were also
evaluated rather homogeneously: self-determined decision making of the patient was rated as important by almost
all of the surveyed psychotherapists (97%). The following components were also judged as important by a majority of
the participants: promotion of hope (80%) and discussion of treatment goals (93%). Most psychotherapists described
the implementation of informed consent as an ongoing process, rather than a one-time event during the frst session
of therapy. Therapists’ age, postgraduate training, treated patient group, and setting infuenced attitudes towards
informed consent.
Conclusions: The present study shows that informed consent is perceived by psychotherapists as both a challenge
and a resource. The implem