All psychotherapists engage in self-disclosure with their clients. At times it may be deliberate or nondeliberate, verbal or nonverbal, and avoidable or unavoidable. Yet, modern-day Internet technologies have redefined the meaning and applications of self-disclosure and transparency in psychotherapy. Consumers of mental health services can easily access large amounts of information about their psychologists. Clients' online searches about their psychotherapists may range from normal curiosity to criminal stalking. Following an examination of these issues, three invited experts share their commentaries on the issues raised. A historical review of self-disclosure in the mental health professions and the opposition of many theorists and practitioners to its use are provided. Further, the roles of Internet social networking and online communities for psychotherapists and their clients and prospective clients are explored, along with the clinical meaning of the ever-increasing digital transparencies of psychologists, trainees, and clients. Advice is provided for how to view, understand, and consider web postings by psychotherapists, clients, and others. Implications for clinical practice and training are provided along with recommendations for how to effectively address issues of digital transparency.
Dual RelationshipsT he term dual relationship in psychotherapy refers to any situation in which multiple roles exist between a therapist and a client (Bennett, Bryant, VandenBos, & Greenwood, 1990; Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 1998; Pope & Vasquez, 2001). This book uses the more popular term dual relationship to discuss dual and multiple relationships. Dual relationships can be social-communal (when a client is also a friend, social acquaintance, fellow congregation member, or works at the store where the therapist shops), sexual (when a client is also a lover), business (when a client is also a business partner), professional (when a client is also a professional colleague), or familial (when a client is also a family member).It is important to differentiate between boundary crossings such as therapeutic touch, clinically driven self-disclosure, home visits, and gift exchanges, which do not entail a secondary relationship and those associations that involve dual relationships. Therapists in the former situations operate exclusively in their clinical capacity and, therefore, these situations are not considered dual relationships. For the same reasons, attending a client's wedding or self-disclosing for clinical reasons rather than social ones does not constitute social or other dual relationships. However, if selfdisclosure or attending the client's wedding takes place in the course of a social relationship or as part of a community relationship between the therapist and client, it constitutes a dual relationship (Lazarus & Zur, 2002). Incidental, chance encounters 21
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