Posted by pseudoname on April 18, 2006, at 9:22:59
In reply to ethics/laws? and a bunch of, er, babble, posted by shrinking violet on April 17, 2006, at 18:21:15
(Poet-- great link.)
Violet--
It's surprising how misinformed professionals can be about the laws & regulations that directly affect them. I've run up against that myself with pdocs. (And, I should admit, in my own business I was completely unaware of an important new regulation for the last 2 years. Yike! “Dummy!”)
According the American Psychological Association official ethics guidelines, therapists can even engage in *sexual* relationships with their former clients. (http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html#10_08) There are strict requirements that try to ensure it's non-exploitative, but it clearly refutes the claim that *no* relationships are allowed.
The guidelines also say “Multiple relationships that would not reasonably be expected to cause impairment or risk exploitation or harm are not unethical” — and that's talking about with CURRENT clients, let alone former.
I've heard of state legislatures considering banning sexual relationships with former therapy clients, but I don't know if any ever passed. I think they would violate Constitutional freedom of association rights.
poster:pseudoname
thread:634248
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060406/msgs/634416.html