[jacob878787]

A friend of mine has recently begun recovery for drug and alcohol abuse and is attending therapy sessions as part of this process. In addition, she is also exploring other issues such as relationship-related ptsd, abandonment issues, and self injury to name a few.

Her boyfriend, also dealing with addiction, is attending the same therapist (separately) and is paying for her sessions.

My concern is that is is a major conflict of interest for her therapist, as he is directly providing advice about continuing her relationship with her boyfriend. Is this normal? I'm worried. I'd to hear your professional advice.

[stopdog]

Has your friend asked you about it? If it were me, I would not get involved in the choices of my friends. Some people have their entire family use the same therapist and it works for them.

[divine1966]

Why are you worried?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wotchermuggle]

I think it's kind of you to be concerned.

T's can handle seeing people who know each other. Maybe at some point they will have joint sessions to work on issues. It would be unethical for a therapist to share any information with each client about the other, but unless you know that's happening, I don't see how there would be an issue.

The therapist could be completely competent to handle this situation or just be a terrible therapist and screw it all up, but I'm not sure how that would involve you, however. I'm assuming these people are adults and can make decisions for themselves about what works for them and their situation.

[atisketatasket]

I was under the impression that unless they went in together first (essentially, family counseling), a therapist could not then ethically add one of them on later.

I'd be worried too. But I think stopdog is right, you probably shouldn't interfere unless it starts to worry your friend.

[Favorite Jeans]

I think the finer points of what is considered ethical--and certainly what is considered good practice--vary by jurisdiction, therapeutic modality and individual therapist. I agree with you that this doesn't sound like a good set up and it would make me uneasy.

But as Stopdog points out this really is a MYOB situation. It doesn't affect you directly. So, unless your friend asked your opinion (in which case tread carefully), or you have good reason to believe she is being abused (in which case say something once and then shut up and remain a safe harbor for her), you should just be happy that this is not your problem.

[Lauliza]

I think so long as all parties involved feel comfortable with the arrangement, they can do whatever they want. It's not a situation that would call for outside involvement.