Shrink Stink

When Dr. Debra Hockett realized a 4-year-old boy she was treating had been sexually abused, the child psychiatrist knew she might be called to testify about his condition in the parents’ divorce dispute. But she didn’t expect her own psychological background to come into the picture.

This spring. Hockett and two other counselors were ordered to give depositions in the case. John McShane, the attorney for the boy’s father, demanded that they bring records of any mental health treatment they had undergone-a move that has the Dallas mental health community worried.

McShane was relying on a recent ruling in a Tyler custody dispute, where a judge held that a counselor could be forced to produce her personal mental health records, presumably so the court could determine whether sexual abuse or other psychological trauma might have prejudiced her evaluation of the child. Hockett did give a deposition, and the questions weren’t limited to her mental health; McShane also asked if she had ever been through bankruptcy.

The judge ruled that Hockett’s therapy records were not relevant. But other courts are allowing the information to be used, and until the Tyler case is overturned, the fear remains. If attorneys are allowed to obtain personal records, “no mental health professional will ever risk being involved in these cases ,” says Anne D, Turner, the attorney for the child’s mother. “This was an attempt, we thought, to scare and intimidate anybody involved in the case.”