California psychologist Michael J. Kondas surrenders license to state board for dishonest, corrupt or fraudulent acts

February 5, 2009

Michael J. Kondas, Ph.D. surrendered his license to the California Board of Psychology, considered a disciplinary action by the Board.  According to the Board’s documents, Kondas committed dishonest, corrupt or fraudulent acts, gross negligence and sexual abuse or misconduct, among other things. Specifically, Kondas, in his treatment of a married couple, falsely told the husband that he was unsafe from his wife and unbeknownst to the wife, advised the husband to leave the session immediately, to not return home or to work and not to return message from his wife for the next few days.  Kondas falsely told the wife that he did not know why the husband left the therapy session and that the husband was separating from her.  When she became upset, Kondas told her that she needed to go to an Urgent Care facility for medication for her anxiety and to help her sleep but instead he took her to a vacant condominium he was involved in selling, where he put the woman under hypnosis, had her then go to the bathroom to relieve her bladder, asked her to return to the bathroom when she exited and proceeded to ask her questions of a sexual nature.  When she exited the bathroom the second time, she noted that Kondas was not wearing pants.  The woman later filed a police report against him.  The Board’s document details additional bizarre subsequent actions by Kondas which also constitute extreme departures from the standard of care, such as telling the husband that he had a recording of him authorizing Kondas to admit to the wife to the hospital, calling the woman’s family members and falsely telling them that the woman was a danger to herself and others and contacting two police departments with false statements about the married couple.