Psychotherapy Finances

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace are increasingly popular on the Internet. Using them wisely can help build your practice, as we’ve noted in numerous past issues of Psychotherapy Finances. But how much personal information should you reveal about yourself online — and is it OK to retrieve information about a client?

These are questions that have yet to be addressed by professional associations, state laws, and the courts. Any therapist who wades into the issues in his or her private practice is basically blazing new trails.

The topic was explored in-depth in a recent Washington Post article that raises some relevant issues, and examines the pros and cons.

Policies are evolving and there appears to be no hard and fast rules. Although the American Psychological Association hasn’t addressed the matter, the American Psychiatric Association maintains that using the Web to gather information about a patient is fine if it’s done in the interest of helping that person, and not out of curiosity.

Stephen Behnke, ethics director for the American Psychological Association, told The Post: “We are just beginning to understand what ethical issues the Internet is raising. To write rules that allow our field to grow and develop and yet prevent [patient] harm at the same time: That’s the challenge.”

Meanwhile, therapists are handling the issue in ways that they see fit, in essence developing their own policies that protect their clients, but still allow the therapist to function in this new, online world.

Colorado psychologist Stephanie Smith, for example, has a Twitter account and posts links to items that clients and potential clients may fine helpful. However, she felt she had to draw the line when clients and former clients began sending her “friend” requests on Facebook. Now, she tells clients upfront about her policy of not involving them in her Facebook postings (there are several levels of privacy you can employ on a Facebook page.)

On the other hand, Smith does occasionally post something about her children, or even celebrity news, on her Twitter page. “It’s my style, but I know some people would not be comfortable” with it, she says.

This is becoming a hot topic, not only for therapists but clients as well. There were dozens of comments on The Post story, which you can read by clicking on the link at the bottom of the article. Emotions run high on all sides.