Psychotherapy patient transfer: secondhand rose

The author uses the analogy of the marketplace to examine the dynamics of the transfer of psychotherapy patients in university clinic settings. The outgoing therapist is the seller, the prospective therapist the buyer, and the patient the commodity--the secondhand Rose. Marketing techniques that are used in this buyers' market allow no active patient participation and are therefore antithetical to the tenets of psychotherapy. The author suggests early clarification of therapeutic goals, assignment of therapists on the basis of patient choice, and explanation of time frames and limits as means for ameliorating the problems he describes.