Boundaries Anyone?
I gave this book 3 stars for character development, and an interesting, suspenseful plot, but Etta, the psychiatrist, and female lead character, would have lost her license for flagrant ethics violations in the real world. I’m a psychotherapist, and daughter of a psychiatrist, and Etta’s boundaries and ethics are beyond inappropriate-definite malpractice, and really criminal for taking advantage of a patient via poor emotional and sexual boundaries. I’m chalking up these deplorable ethics and boundary violations to creative license, because Etta also had an odd role as a psychiatrist. Contrary, to popular belief most psychiatrists are not psychotherapists, but primarily manage psychopharmacology. If Etta had been trained to do therapy, she would have learned the importance and necessity to avoid romantic entanglements with her patients. The minute she had romantic feelings she should have transferred her patient, the lead male character, JJ. Also, empathy and co-dependence are 2 different things, but the author seems to have these 2 things confused, as depicted by Etta’s over-identification with JJ and other characters in the book. All these issues were somewhat cringe worthy for this reader, and I suggest the author should have made a note about that, so folks don’t think this is typical practice. So, 3 stars for creativity, suspense, and character development, but just a fair fictional romance, that really doesn’t work for mental health professionals.