why arent psychologists and therapists allowed to date their clients?

Question

i mean some can really keep their professional aloof from personal life.

Answer 1

A psychologist or therapist knows the client's weaknesses and vulnerabilities and sensitivities, and if they wanted, they could manipulate the client and take advantage. Also, when a client is in need of help and nobody seems to understand except the therapist, the client can develop a crush on the therapist and think he/she is the most wonderful person in the world. This is just temporary and is an emotional thing, not "real" or permanent feelings, and they should not be exploited or encouraged . ALSO, if a relationship occurs, the client may expect a break on the bill, or the therapist may want to exchange sex for a lower fee. It can get ugly! Bottom line, it's not ethical and not advised. To be a professional, the therapist should ACT like a professional around all his/her clients.

Answer 2

It is a prerequisite in any therapeutic relationship to maintain a professional boundary between themselves and their clients. Think of it this way, when your parents give you advice when you are young, the chances are that its not well received for many different reasons. If you are in a relationship, you are too emotionally involved to be objective. Imagine if you wife , husband, sister or brother were involved in some sort of dispute with someone. Would you sit there and try and say OK now tell me what your part in this was? No, chances are you would react emotionally and want to take sides. That's a very human reaction with a friend or loved one but may not be the best way to handle the situation. Being emotionally involved means that you are too close to a situation and may not be able to get your client to the "place" that's best for them. The first rule in medicine and in therapy is "First, do no harm."

Answer 3

* Its a conflict of interest
* A relationship beyond client to professional would be compromised, in that the therapist would loose the neutral ground by emotional involvement. Being human, emotions comes with romantic emotions - there is no middle ground there.
* Should the relationship end - it creates a negative vacuum whereby both get burned.

Answer 4

I'm a first year Master's student in Counseling and we just discussed this in class last week. You can't do it b/c of ethical guidelines (ACA-American Counseling Association) says you must wait at least 5 years after termination before hooking up with a client. Some counselors feel that should never happen. It creates a dual relationship.

Answer 5

It's unethical because they would have a inappropriate advantage over the client. If a client and therapist feel strongly drawn to one another, the therapy relationship needs to end and there should be a "cooling off" period before they begin a personal relationship.

Answer 6

Counselors are trained to maintain certain standards of practice. It is unethical to sleep or date a client. In therapy you strive to develop a professional working relationship to help the client work through their issues. Loss of licensure is a consequence of violating this issue.

Answer 7

Ethically, they are not! They could lose their license for such indescretions. A MAJOR conflict of interest. They only lie to themselves when they believe they can still separate the subjective from the objective.

Answer 8

but it is against medical ethics. it can also be a criminal offense in some instances. additionally, the client may be amenable to act in a way not based on need, but persanal desire, or in ways that could be called criminal.

Answer 9

This regulation protects patients who are vulnerable to manipulation by someone trained in psychology.

It also protects the profession of psychology from slander.

Answer 10

Yeah but not all of them can...

So really its just a trust issue between them and the rest of the general public.