Take our Do I Need Therapy?

Find a therapist near me

Therapy is confidential, right? What is said in the room, stays in the room? Your therapist won’t share the stuff you tell them with anyone else? You’d hope so, but if social media is anything to go by, the reality of protecting client confidentiality is falling miserably short of professional standards.

At its most basic level, confidentiality is an ethical requirement, which means that what clients say and do in the therapy room remains private; with three exceptions:

Sharing information in supervision with a (usually) more senior professional, with the aim of better understanding the therapeutic process

Sharing information in response to a legal request, which isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, and is only mandatory in the UK if a subpoena has been issued

Sharing information in relation to a safeguarding concern; because safeguarding always trumps confidentiality.

Counsellors' and psychotherapists' responsibility to maintain confidentiality includes sharing information verbally and in writing, anywhere and in any context. I would argue that the same right to confidentiality should........

© Psychology Today