Reader’s Question

My former psychologist is now again taking on other members of my family as patients. This doctor first saw me years ago. I moved to another part of the country and concluded our sessions. My father then saw him shortly thereafter without my knowledge. I was extremely upset, feeling betrayed, because I never told the doctor I would not be seeing him again and most importantly because he had knowledge of my private affairs which included the troubles I was having with my family. Is he violating some code of ethics? If so, do I have any legal right to sue or demand that he cease seeing my father and mother?

How would I find out if he said anything about me to them during their sessions? Just the fact that he has information about me makes his analysis of my parents biased even if he didn’t bring me up during sessions.

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

The psychologist is not being unethical when he sees members of your family. As you describe, you ended the therapeutic relationship and moved to another part of the country. That terminates his relationship with you. He is free to see any member of your family that requests treatment, although his ethical requirement for confidentiality continues after termination of therapy.

While he can see your family members, he is prohibited from revealing any information you shared with him to your family members. Psychologists are required to keep all clients separate. Confidentiality is also considered forever, with no time limitations. He would violate the code of ethics if he were to discuss your sessions with any member of your family. At the same time, he cannot discuss with you his treatment of your family members.

You do mention an important point — that his analysis of your parents may be influenced by your previous discussions with him. This is a common problem in small communities for professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, attorneys, and others who deal with private and confidential information. Ethically, he is not permitted to provide treatment if such treatment may be biased by previous experience or his personal opinion/belief/attitude. If your experience with him has created a bias, he would be required to refer your father or other family members to another therapist. If he has continued to see your father or family members, I would suspect their issues are unrelated to you and your previous discussions with this psychologist.

You trusted this psychologist in the past with your private and personal concerns. He has done nothing to violate that trust. I would recommend continuing to trust his professional judgment and ethics and rest assured that he is protecting your confidentiality and will continue to do so in the future.