Googling therapist/ professional work

Hi everyone,

I know we've talked about how many of us all look up our therapists on Facebook or other social media platforms (I'm guilty as charged), and how some therapists are uncomfortable with this. However, I'm wondering about the boundaries with their professional work. My therapist is a clinical psychologist and is quoted in the press from time to time and publishes scholarly articles. Most of the press clippings or articles I'm found have also been linked on his own website, so I definitely feel like reading these are acceptable. Prior to our first session, I set a google news alert with my therapist's name. A couple of days ago, much to my happiness, my google news alert came up. My therapist had given a three hour interview on a news radio show discussing some topics and therapy in general. (Side note: I know what I'm replaying next time therapist is our of town!) The show was a delight, and he revealed some personal details about his family I was previously unaware of (mainly that baby #2 in on the way.) This news radio show is broadcast in a different state than where we live and also streaming on the internet, but it's not something I would have discovered without the goggle alert. (Radio host doesn't seem to be super well known outside of where the show is broadcast.) Therapist used his name on the show and the host advertised his website many times. My first inclination was to bring it up today and compliment him on such a great show, but my husband brought up the point that this might make my therapist uncomfortable, especially since he reveals so little about himself in our sessions. (I think he does this just to minimize talking about himself, not to conceal or keep a blank slate.) I'm also wanted to bring it up to see if he was going to take time off when baby #2 was born, but I know I could bring this up in a "are you taking any more vacation time in the near future?" sort of way.

Anyhow, would love to hear your thoughts on boundaries with the therapist's professional work. If your therapist had a professional web presence, would you look up all their work? (I'll admit I already have.)

I think you should feel free to bring it up whenever and however you want to, but I admit that I don't have a lot of hesitation about researching therapists. It seems like he should realize anything he puts online -- particularly in his professional role -- is fair game for his clients to know about and to want to discuss. I have found and skimmed some of my T's published articles and her dissertation, looked at her website, etc. But I also don't feel particularly guilty about looking at her Facebook profile either. My T knows about all this stuff and has asked about what it means to me and/or why I do it, but she doesn't seem upset about it and has never indicated that she wants me to stop.

I agree with Manatee. Google alerts is a pretty basic search tool. Your therapist is consciously entering public discussions using his own name, so it stands to reason that he is comfortable with this public disclosure.

That being said, maybe it's worth discussing or doing some soul-searching on why you have a google alert on your therapist. On one hand, it could be because you find his writing/commentary thought-provoking, and this is why you chose him as a therapist. On the other hand, it could be a sign of obsessive behavior towards your therapist, which (while common) may be worth unpacking in therapy if it doesn't disappear on its own.

Overall, just remember that anything is fair game to discuss in therapy. If this is something that is occupying your mind, talk about it! Good luck!

My T keeps an exceptionally low profile online. I do read her published articles and have no qualms about it though. I vote for bring it up, and your T can decide how to address it or if it needs to be addressed in a therapeutic manner.

As others said, you can bring up anything you want to discuss with your therapist. If there is something the therapist doesn't want to discuss like his personal life he will tell you so you don't need to worry about that. At the same time, if he talks about some parts of his personal life publicly then he shouldn't mind or be surprised when clients bring it up in session though he could still refuse to discuss it.

You are not violating any boundary by googling therapists and researching publicly available information on them. Whatever people put out online about themselves, they make a conscious choice to do so. The act of posting whatever we post online, in and of itself, is a permission for everyone to look at it, otherwise we wouldn't post it if we know that the information goes public. So, I don't see how you can violate anyone's boundary by looking at the publicly available information. And it's interesting to me that this question comes up over and over again on this forum..