[annielovesbacon]

I found this article from the NYT very interesting. It talks about patients googling their therapists/psychiatrists and vice versa.
The article is a few years old so my apologies if it has been posted here before.
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.co...e-your-shrink/

[lilypeppermint]

How do doctors even have time to google ER patients?

This would I hope never happen in the U.K.

Interesting article thank you

[stopdog]

The comments are my favorite part -particularly the therapists who get themselves all wadded up and huffy.

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by stopdog

The comments are my favorite part -particularly the therapists who get themselves all wadded up and huffy.

I noticed one comment by a therapist who said s/he saw a client at a restaurant and "had to move." Move where? To a different table? Different restaurant? Different country? Either way, seems like a bit of an overreaction to me.

[Out There]

Originally Posted by annielovesbacon

I noticed one comment by a therapist who said s/he saw a client at a restaurant and "had to move." Move where? To a different table? Different restaurant? Different country? Either way, seems like a bit of an overreaction to me.

That's given me the biggest laugh I've had for a long time !

[Merope]

Gah, I’m so, so guilty of internet snooping! It’s surprising just how much you can find out just from one or two leads. Human curiosity, eh?

I do the googling all the time, not just Ts but pretty much everyone and anyone I want to get information about, including colleagues, potential job candidates, my clients etc. It's very fast to do and can be done anywhere if one has a smartphone at least - I never understand when people claim that Ts (or doctors) may not have time for it. I personally even find it kinda weird that people analyze it in this era where information is so easily available... I actually think it is not exactly right for a T to analyze this in a client as it can provoke a perception that it's wrong to look for information and to be knowledgeable. If a T finds clients knowing some things about them disturbing, I think it's their problem and responsibility to regulate, not to question or control what the client is doing perfectly legally on the public web. Even background checks - there are open tools to do it these days for anyone who wishes.

[magicalprince]

Well, that's the world we live in these days, I suppose. I think if therapists didn't act so deliberately secretive about their personal information, people probably would not feel so motivated to track it down. Seems like people have an innate desire to even out the scales.

[skysblue]

Originally Posted by Xynesthesia

I do the googling all the time, not just Ts but pretty much everyone and anyone I want to get information about, including colleagues, potential job candidates, my clients etc. It's very fast to do and can be done anywhere if one has a smartphone at least - I never understand when people claim that Ts (or doctors) may not have time for it. I personally even find it kinda weird that people analyze it in this era where information is so easily available... I actually think it is not exactly right for a T to analyze this in a client as it can provoke a perception that it's wrong to look for information and to be knowledgeable. If a T finds clients knowing some things about them disturbing, I think it's their problem and responsibility to regulate, not to question or control what the client is doing perfectly legally on the public web. Even background checks - there are open tools to do it these days for anyone who wishes.

I agree 100% and I don't consider it snooping. A person can prevent much being shown about themselves on the Net so otherwise, it's public knowledge.

[TeaVicar?]

I've gone through phases of obsessive internet searching. I don't feel guilty. I want to know more about him, I've been seeing him for almost a decade now. I honestly think that if he was little more open about himself, I wouldn't feel the need. The more I find out, the more human he becomes and I feel like I'm having a real relationship with a person.

Here's another one on self-disclosure. The moral outrage from the traditionalists in the comments, is highly amusing... again.
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.co...psychotherapy/

[chihirochild]

Lollll that ED shrink must be nuts; I have literally never seen or heard of a medical professional Googling a patient.

I suppose I might if someone told me they were some kind of big shot and I couldn’t tell if they were actually famous vs having delusions of grandeur but otherwise ain’t nobody got time for that

[fille_folle]

According to Google, I have visited various pages associated with my T (her website, her FB page, etc.) "many times." It says, "You have visited this page many times," in an accusatory fashion below the search results.

[GeekyOne]

This topic comes up frequently on this forum, and it is always clear to me that no one here has been stalked.

What would you do if a loved one, friend, someone from your FOO, a colleague or your boss, managed to figure out who you are *here*? Yeah, yeah, you don't tell blatant details about your life here, but many people who know you would be able to identify you from your posts.

What if they used things you've said here against you in your relationships elsewhere?

Let's say that happened. You cut that person out of your life. Now how would you feel to learn they had been viewing your Facebook or LinkedIn page? Yes, you can lock those down, keep those strictly private or minimize the public information on them, but... really?Would you then still be okay with it?

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by GeekyOne

This topic comes up frequently on this forum, and it is always clear to me that no one here has been stalked.

What would you do if a loved one, friend, someone from your FOO, a colleague or your boss, managed to figure out who you are *here*? Yeah, yeah, you don't tell blatant details about your life here, but many people who know you would be able to identify you from your posts.

What if they used things you've said here against you in your relationships elsewhere?

Let's say that happened. You cut that person out of your life. Now how would you feel to learn they had been viewing your Facebook or LinkedIn page? Yes, you can lock those down, keep those strictly private or minimize the public information on them, but... really?Would you then still be okay with it?

Using info against someone is a separate thing from looking up public information.
And I would be fine with anyone looking at anything that is online/in a public forum. (I have had clients/ their families who looked me up, followed me, and threatened to harm me in various ways)

[fille_folle]

Wow, I actually find what you said offensive, GeekyOne. I actually have been stalked. I was stalked and repeatedly raped by a man I didn't even know the name of from the ages of 19 to 27. So please don't patronize me and try to educate me on what it feels like to be stalked. I agree with stopdog.

[GeekyOne]

Originally Posted by fille_folle

Wow, I actually find what you said offensive, GeekyOne. I actually have been stalked. I was stalked and repeatedly raped by a man I didn't even know the name of from the ages of 19 to 27. So please don't patronize me and try to educate me on what it feels like to be stalked. I agree with stopdog.

So how would you feel if you learned, today, that man had googled you and was looking at your profile on LinkedIn? So he knows your employer and/or your area of residence, at minimum. I hope he's been locked away, but what if he was released?

Do you think your experience of the stalking would have been different if it had been perpetrated by someone you did know? Someone who claims to care about you? I'm genuinely curious.

I don't intend to offend or patronize anyone, I am sorry for coming off that way.

I am not sorry for sharing my (minority) perspective, and while you may have had a similar experience to what I describe, that doesn't mean that everyone has or that no one's understanding of it would benefit from guidance like I suggested.

[fille_folle]

It's PUBLIC information. If I don't want literally EVERYONE to have access to something, it's up to me to decide how to handle that. Linkedin isn't designed to keep your info private, it's a networking website for crying out loud.

There's a huge difference between stalking and accessing public information. I personally wouldn't do something like, for example, masquerade as a local therapist and send my T a friend request on FB to get access to her non-public profile. I certainly wouldn't ever drive past her house as I am aware some people have. However, frequenting her public website, fb profile, or yes, linkedin, is not stalking. Saying that it is minimizes stalking.

[fille_folle]

Also, seeing as none of these behaviors are overt, and aren't known to Ts unless the client tells, they don't even fit the legal definition of stalking. That's a fact.

[stopdog]

But that really has nothing to do with looking up someone you are hiring or who you just know. Clients who look up therapists are not stalking them or harming them in any way without more. The two things are not the same.

[GeekyOne]

Originally Posted by fille_folle

It's PUBLIC information. If I don't want literally EVERYONE to have access to something, it's up to me to decide how to handle that. Linkedin isn't designed to keep your info private, it's a networking website for crying out loud.

There's a huge difference between stalking and accessing public information. I personally wouldn't do something like, for example, masquerade as a local therapist and send my T a friend request on FB to get access to her non-public profile. I certainly wouldn't ever drive past her house as I am aware some people have. However, frequenting her public website, fb profile, or yes, linkedin, is not stalking. Saying that it is minimizes stalking.

I never said looking at public web profiles is stalking. Never once. I do think that it's reasonable for people to be wary of that happening though.

I hope that other members (and non-members) are reading this and realizing that it's okay to not google their therapist, or to be anxious about being googled by their therapist (and perhaps understand why therapists might be uncomfortable with being googled).

Stalking is a real problem and I am not minimizing it in the slightest. Far from it.

[fille_folle]

Equating googling public information to stalking is very much minimizing stalking. That is my opinion.

[GeekyOne]

Originally Posted by fille_folle

Equating googling public information to stalking is very much minimizing stalking. That is my opinion.

I’m hearing from your posts that you feel attacked and like I am minimizing your experience. I’m sorry, that was never my intent. I just wanted to share an alternate perspective on why some people might be uncomfortable even with googling of public information.

I have also been stalked. It was a member of my FOO and information learned was used to manipulate how others (including teachers, doctors, therapists, lawyers and others in my FOO) treated me. Partly as a result of that, I am estranged from that person and have been for more than half my life. Recently I learned they had looked up my LinkedIn profile. That is public because I am looking for work. I am not saying that they are stalking me again... but it sure made me uncomfortable. It gives me insight into why therapists might draw a hard line about even googling very public information.

Anyway, this has devolved into an argument which was not my goal, so I’m done in this thread. Thanks for sharing your story and opinion!

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by Xynesthesia

I do the googling all the time, not just Ts but pretty much everyone and anyone I want to get information about, including colleagues, potential job candidates, my clients etc. It's very fast to do and can be done anywhere if one has a smartphone at least - I never understand when people claim that Ts (or doctors) may not have time for it. I personally even find it kinda weird that people analyze it in this era where information is so easily available... I actually think it is not exactly right for a T to analyze this in a client as it can provoke a perception that it's wrong to look for information and to be knowledgeable. If a T finds clients knowing some things about them disturbing, I think it's their problem and responsibility to regulate, not to question or control what the client is doing perfectly legally on the public web. Even background checks - there are open tools to do it these days for anyone who wishes.

I agree. My social media is public, and while I doubt my therapist looks me up or anything, I fully understand that what I post could pop up on her feeds (or others' -- a professor, a student at my university I don't know, etc.). After all, social media sites like Facebook often show posts from people who aren't your friend just because you are in the same area or maybe you have 'liked' the same things.
I am conscious that anyone, like my employer, can see the things I post. I'm sure therapists understand the same.
And beyond just social media, things that the therapist can't control whether it's on the web or not, I also agree with you that simply looking things up is harmless (so as that information is not used with bad intent, as others have discussed in this thread).

[TeaVicar?]

Therapists expect to be googled. It came up when I was training and we advised to keep our web presence at a minimum. That's why some use a different name. I know of a highly respected Freudian therapist who also admitted to googling patients. It is not stalking. Yes, it's crossed my mind that I could be identifiable from my posts and I'm happy taking that risk. It's an open forum after all.

You seem very fearful about it Geekyone, why is that?

[coolibrarian]

If you Google your T and find out they live at "123 Nowhere Lane," that's not stalking. If you drive by your T's house hoping to get a glimpse of them, that might be considered stalking. If you drive by their house everyday, they might feel like you are stalking them.