FAQ/Help |
Calendar |
Search |
Grand Member
AliceKate
has an update
Member Since: Jan 2021
Location: On a raindrop far, far away
Posts: 871
2,208 hugs
given |
#1
I read someone saying that in the Can my therapist find me on here thread and am wondering if that is true.
__________________ my life explained in two smileys |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
catches the flowers
*Beth*
is practicing healthy breathing for brain, mind,
body, spirit.
Member Since: Jul 2019
Location: Downtown Vibes, California
Posts: 15,701
(SuperPoster!)
23.7k hugs
given |
#2
The problem with "ethical" or "unethical" is that circumstances can have an influence. For example, let's say a regular, reliable client suddenly doesn't show up for his usual therapy session. The second time it happens the therapist is concerned. So she looks into the client's records and sees there is no emergency contact. Because she is concerned she googles his name, hoping to find his phone number or maybe work place so she can inquire as to his well-being.
I would not call that unethical. But my very own opinion? I've learned that in this year of 2022 and henceforth, it is smart for anyone doing any kind of professional work with someone - and even someone considering a prospective friendship or date - to google the person. __________________ |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
Discombobulated, Favorite Jeans, LonesomeTonight
|
Grand Member
AliceKate
has an update
Member Since: Jan 2021
Location: On a raindrop far, far away
Posts: 871
2,208 hugs
given |
#3
Me too. I guess I would think googeling for information that is publicly disclosed is okay, searching for someone's activity on a forum such as this would be more questionnable.
__________________ my life explained in two smileys |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, Discombobulated, LonesomeTonight, Mountaindewed
|
catches the flowers
*Beth*
is practicing healthy breathing for brain, mind,
body, spirit.
Member Since: Jul 2019
Location: Downtown Vibes, California
Posts: 15,701
(SuperPoster!)
23.7k hugs
given |
#4
__________________ |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
Always in This Twilight
LonesomeTonight
has no updates.
Member Since: Feb 2015
Location: US
Posts: 20,699
(SuperPoster!)
74.8k hugs
given |
#5
I asked my T once, and he said he'd never google a client and certainly wouldn't look for one on a forum like this or, say, Facebook.
|
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
AliceKate
|
Magnate
Rive.
has no updates.
Member Since: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,002
|
#6
I assume that 'someone' is me?!
Ts should only ever 'use' information clients give them in session. Searching for additional info that a client may not want them to know or disclose is closer to snooping on a client - which is not ethical. Clients have the right to choose what they want to share with a T. Prior to starting therapy, Ts get the client's info + emergency contact if needed. So there is is no need to go behind the client's back. |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
AliceKate, Bill3
|
Crone
Nammu
has no updates.
Member Since: May 2010
Location: Some where between my inner mind and the solar system.
Posts: 70,982
(SuperPoster!)
53.4k hugs
given |
#7
Funny many people on here have no problem with googling their T, but Ts aren’t supposed to google them? why is that?
__________________ Nammu …Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. …... Desiderata Max Ehrmann |
Reply With Quote |
*Beth*, AliceKate, ArtleyWilkins
|
Poohbah
Salmon77
has no updates.
Member Since: Mar 2014
Location: PNW
Posts: 1,394
106 hugs
given |
#8
I don't think it's a big deal to google someone out of curiosity, as long as that's all it is. But a real deep dive seems inappropriate.
|
Reply With Quote |
AliceKate
|
Grand Member
AliceKate
has an update
Member Since: Jan 2021
Location: On a raindrop far, far away
Posts: 871
2,208 hugs
given |
#9
__________________ my life explained in two smileys |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, Rive.
|
Magnate
Rive.
has no updates.
Member Since: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,002
|
#10
Quote:
|
|
Reply With Quote |
AliceKate, Bill3, Echos Myron redux, ElectricManatee, LonesomeTonight
|
Magnate
ArtleyWilkins
has no updates.
Member Since: Oct 2018
Location: USA
Posts: 2,787
7 hugs
given |
#11
. . . but is there an official ethics standard for this? Or is it just another of those ill-defined, nebulous, gray areas that still exists around technology and social media as it pertains to therapy?
I'm guessing it is still in that gray area from everything that I can find. Personally, it wouldn't particularly matter to me if a provider googled me. I know what is out there and it isn't anything they wouldn't know already. As far as this particular website goes . . . I never shared that I post here; it wasn't particularly relevant to what I was doing in therapy so it just wasn't an issue. I wasn't one to post about my current therapy sessions, etc. anyway. |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, AliceKate, Nammu
|
Always in This Twilight
LonesomeTonight
has no updates.
Member Since: Feb 2015
Location: US
Posts: 20,699
(SuperPoster!)
74.8k hugs
given |
#12
Quote:
For me, I think it would be weird if I found out long after the fact. Like if months later, my T was like, "Oh, yeah, I've been reading your posts on MySupportForums" (I still want to call it PC!). Or "I've been looking at your Facebook posts" (which he couldn't really do because of my settings, but anyway). As he'd have information about me and what I was feeling that I wasn't aware of. It's almost as if, say, he were talking to my husband or my friend about me without my knowing it. |
|
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
AliceKate, Quietmind 2
|
Grand Member
AliceKate
has an update
Member Since: Jan 2021
Location: On a raindrop far, far away
Posts: 871
2,208 hugs
given |
#13
My T did google me (obviously didn't find this place). He told me in our second session. I don't mind. I might mind if he read my posts here.
__________________ my life explained in two smileys |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*
|
Wise Elder
ScarletPimpernel
has no updates.
Member Since: Nov 2013
Location: US
Posts: 8,394
(SuperPoster!)
6,354 hugs
given |
#14
L and T wouldn't look me up. 1. They wouldn't have the time. 2. There's no need. I'm already open and honest with them about everything. 3. I have shared some of my forum threads with them especially if I feel they could benefit from other's perspectives.
__________________ "Odium became your opium..." ~Epica |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, AliceKate
|
Always in This Twilight
LonesomeTonight
has no updates.
Member Since: Feb 2015
Location: US
Posts: 20,699
(SuperPoster!)
74.8k hugs
given |
#15
Oh, and reading an advice column in Slate just made me think of another potential issue with a T googling a client--what if something they find isn't about the actual client, but someone else with the same name?
For my maiden name (which isn't that common), I had a second cousin given the exact same name as me (same first, middle, and last). I googled my maiden name recently, and some stuff with her being arrested for various things showed up. What if my T had googled me and wondered why I never told him about, say, my shoplifting arrests? That could be a case where he assumes he has knowledge about me, but...it's not actually me! |
Reply With Quote |
AliceKate, SlumberKitty
|
AliceKate, Favorite Jeans, NP_Complete, Quietmind 2
|
Magnate
ArtleyWilkins
has no updates.
Member Since: Oct 2018
Location: USA
Posts: 2,787
7 hugs
given |
#16
I think there is a tendency to overestimate the therapists' curiosity about us beyond the therapy session . . .
|
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, AliceKate, DigitalDarkroom, LonesomeTonight, Nammu, Quietmind 2, ScarletPimpernel, SlumberKitty
|
Grand Member
AliceKate
has an update
Member Since: Jan 2021
Location: On a raindrop far, far away
Posts: 871
2,208 hugs
given |
#17
Quote:
__________________ my life explained in two smileys |
|
Reply With Quote |
*Beth*, LonesomeTonight
|
underdog is here
stopdog
has no updates.
Member Since: Sep 2011
Location: blank
Posts: 34,704
(SuperPoster!)
1 hugs
given |
#18
Quote:
I doubt a therapist would bother to look up a client mostly because of how lazy therapists are rather than from any imagined noble concerns. Clients are not often unique - read through threads without looking at the names and it all blurs together and the same themes come up over and over and over and over and..... I believe therapists saying such idiotic things about ethics is to lie to and manipulate clients rather than those people simply admitting they don't care __________________ Please NO @ Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Oscar Wilde Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. |
|
Reply With Quote |
AliceKate
|
AliceKate
|
Crone
Nammu
has no updates.
Member Since: May 2010
Location: Some where between my inner mind and the solar system.
Posts: 70,982
(SuperPoster!)
53.4k hugs
given |
#19
Quote:
__________________ Nammu …Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. …... Desiderata Max Ehrmann |
|
Reply With Quote |
AliceKate, LonesomeTonight
|
Magnate
ArtleyWilkins
has no updates.
Member Since: Oct 2018
Location: USA
Posts: 2,787
7 hugs
given |
#20
. . . but it is clients here saying it is unethical (unless I am mistaken).
I agree though that I doubt many therapists are taking much time out of their lives to search their clients -- I honestly don't think they are that curious. |
Reply With Quote |
SlumberKitty
|
*Beth*, AliceKate
|