Psychology Ethics: Confidentiality

Psychologists don't share client information without a darn good reason, and darn good reasons are few and far between.

Those few and far between reasons are almost always related to danger of some kind.

If the client says something that makes it clear that she is a danger to herself or someone else or knows of someone who is being abused, the therapist is obligated to tell the proper authorities to get the person or people to safety. The client is always told about this limit to confidentiality in the first session, so it's not a secret.

Files:

Files must be secured—not lying around where anyone can pick them up. The American Psychological Association has specific Record Keeping Guidelines .

Subpoenas: Sometimes files are subpoenaed, and even then a therapist doesn't just hand the files over. There are therapists who will go to jail before they'd hand over files if they truly believed the information in them could be used against the client. So ethics can be hard--sometimes (but rarely!) they don't match the law.

Parents and Children:

Parents have the right to know what their children are saying in therapy, but telling on your child client isn't going to convince her to tell you much of anything. Therefore, some therapists ask parents if they can maintain a more confidential relationship with their underage clients.

In those situations therapists usually promise to tell the parent if the child is, for example, using drugs, engaging in sex, or participating in other behaviors the parent wants to know about. But these limits are made clear to the child client so she can avoid incriminating herself if she wants to.

Drugs:

If you're an adult paying for your very own therapy, your drug secret is safe.