Do you have the right to know certain things about your Therapist

I was wondering what peoples take on this is.

I was wondering if you have the right to know certain things about your Therapist. With previous Therapist who I saw from 2017-2019 she apparently had a medical condition that slowly takes away her eyesight but she didn't tell me until several months into us meeting together. She thought that it wasn't a major thing and didn't need to tell me when we first starting meeting together but I couldn't disagree more, if it is something that I think could have an impact on Therapy than you have the right to know very early on. She did say earlier on that should could not drive but at the time I didn't think much of it. She says she can only see blurs of people and other things.

She also got Married while we were seeing each other but didn't tell me until we were almost done having Therapy together, which I guess isn't that major.

I believe its always the clients reaction to things that is of major importance. I see tarot cards the same way - what ideas do these events spark in the client? Like the tennis ball coming back at you.

I would want to know if the therapist was blind or deaf because it would have bearing on communication. Other therapist health things would not concern me at all and would not be anything I cared about knowing. Whether a therapist got married or not would be of no interest to me at all.

Have they ever been the subject of a successful complaint against them professionally and/or criminally harmed a client?

I would say that is true (she is legally blind), another thing I didn't find out until the very end but apparently she is Pansexual.

Not that I know of

My therapist told me when they had cancer. And then again they told me when they had to take more covid precautions because they didn’t respond to the vaccine. And they also told me that they can resume in person sessions because they got the prophylactic Covid treatment. All of those disclosures seemed appropriate given how long we have worked together (8 years) and our relationship.

You can usually find this out with minimal effort by checking with their licensing body.

I think therapists have an obligation to disclose anything that might realistically impact the therapy (e.g., blindness, an illness that might require frequent or prolonged absences).

I also believe they have an obligation to answer certain questions about their worldview, but only if a client asks (things like theoretical orientation, religion or meaning-making system, political leanings). I also think they should answer direct questions about things like sexual orientation, if they are partnered, if they have children, if they've had their own therapy, etc. I know there are therapists who disagree (and clients who don't want to know), but I would not work with a therapist who wasn't willing to disclose these things when asked.

No, there is never any obligation for therapists to disclose their personal lives and for clients to pry into what is private. Why on earth should therapists tell clients whether they get married or not, it is *their* right to privacy.

There is also no obligation to disclose any health issues IF they are benign, which was the case with your therapist. She only informed you when it became an issue that could impact therapy. It makes no sense, and is extremely intrusive, to demand that therapists disclose any and every little health issue. Health information is private and protected.

These requirements ('is my T married' or 'why is my T not telling they got married etc.') are rather voyeuristic. Ts are entitled to a private life and to THEIR right to privacy.

My T, who also did some couple sessions with me and my wife, got a divorce and moved, and she never told me. It was during COVID so she didn’t tell me about the move til it came time for us to meet in person and then she told me she moved 2 hours away so we could only do Zoom. It crushed me. And then I found out thru a mutual friend that she got a divorce, which was her second one. That made me question her ability to do couple counseling. It has changed everything about therapy

I felt completelty betrayed for a long time that the therapist I had before I moved never told me she got vaccinated shortly after the vaccine came out. I later realized it was none of my bussiness, plus I didn't ask her either if she was vaccinated.

Boundaries are a thing.

If and when something in a therapist's health/life, etc. impacts their practice, then yes, they should address that IF they are unable to find a workable solution. But if their ability to continue therapy is not impacted, no, it really isn't our "right" to know their private business. And, even if it requires changes, I don't necessarily think we have a right to the details of their situation; general explanation is often all that is really needed. We all have a right to keep our personal information private as much as possible.

One thing I wanted to clarify about my earlier post...I don't think therapists HAVE to reveal personal details of their lives, other than those that directly impact therapy, but I DO think I have a right not to work with therapists who won't disclose certain things when asked (like religion, political leanings). I have no desire to work with a "blank slate" therapist and appreciate those that will show up more real and human in the relationship. I also appreciate those who are willing to equalize power as much as possible, and self-disclosure (especially when asked, and especially of identities and cultural dimensions) is one important way to do that.

So, I don't think therapists are obliged to share things other than those that directly impact therapy, but neither am I obliged to simply accept that and continue working with them if they won't.

Just out of curiosity, besides the shock of hearing the news that your T is blind, did it impact your therapy at all? Like do you feel like it was harder to connect with her, etc?

A therapist sexuality is their private business and none of yours. All I want to know about a T is that they are not far right wing nuts or religious fanatics. Their private lives is their business. Deaf wouldn’t bother me at all if they knew asl and blindness might impact the ability to make eye contact.

I guess I started to see things differently knowing that she couldn't see me that well. She did wear glasses so maybe that's why I was a little surprised when she told me, I guess I thought that glasses would fix any type of vision problems.

I have a hard time agreeing with you on that. What if someone is extremely opposed to alternative sexualites and doesn't want to see someone who is one of those. They would not want to see someone with one of those sexualities just like you would not want to see someone who is far right wing or very religious.

The power is not in knowing facts about someone -in my opinion. Clients have just as much power - you hire them - you pay them -you can quit at any time. I didn't like or care about the ones I hired all that much -they told me more about themselves than I ever cared about. I certainly agree that a client should not hire one who does not work in the way the client wants -or fire that therapist and hire another -they are a dime a dozen and completely replaceable.

Many people are considered legally blind. They are blind per legal definition of it but they could see this or that. Legally blind doesn’t mean all they see is complete darkness.

“Blind” could also mean losing eye sight but still could see this or that until it’s completely lost.

I know siblings with usher syndrome, they are considered deaf and blind but they can see (rapidly deteriorating eye sight) and they have cochlear implants (it doesn’t make you “not deaf” but they aren’t deaf in the way other people might think of it) so someone might say oh they hear you and can answer and they can see you so they aren’t deaf/blind. But they are

She did tell me that she can see blurs, in fact at a concert we were both at, she told that she saw me there (but I didn't see her), I wondered how (since I knew about her condition by than) she saw me and she said that she could recognize my blur.

Yes she is considered blind but she could still recognize people. Legally blind people could often recognize others.

Are you having an issue with her being blind or the fact she didn’t tell you earlier?

I think if it pertains to your therapy or a choice of a therapist than I think you have rights to know. I don’t think we have rights to know other random things. I mean we could ask. It doesn’t mean we can demand the answers

Probably that she didn't tell me earlier, I don't know if it had much to do with the fact that she had vision problems, just that she didn't tell me earlier.

If it is degenerative (sounds like it is), it may be that it progressed to a different point and that has made a difference in her disclosure. Earlier it might not have been as big an issue for her perhaps.