Do therapists look up their clients on Facebook?

Short answer: yes. A new study published on January 15 in the Journal of Clinical Psychology finds that 86\% of the therapists interviewed by the study’s authors say they sometimes do look up their patients on the Internet. A 2016 study, for example, found that most patients do indeed look up their therapists online.

Can you be Facebook friends with your former therapist?

You might be wondering if your former therapist would even be allowed to be your friend, given how ethically rigorous the mental health field is. The answer is technically yes, but it’s generally inadvisable.

Can my therapist look at my social media?

It’s OK to pull up a client’s personal website or Facebook page during a therapy session to see pictures of his or her children or to better understand a personal crisis he’s coping with, says Barnett. But spying just because you can is inappropriate, he says.

Is it weird to look up your therapist?

While it is fine to look your therapist up online, sometimes doing so can cause discomfort or even distress and if you find you are experiencing negative effects, I think it is especially important to discuss that with your therapist, and to consider whether the it is unhelpful to your process.

Is it OK to search a client’s personal websites during therapy?

In most cases, search only if you have the client’s consent, says Jeffrey E. Barnett, PsyD, past chair of APA’s Ethics Committee. It’s OK to pull up a client’s personal website or Facebook page during a therapy session to see pictures of his or her children or to better understand a personal crisis he’s coping with, says Barnett.

Is it ethical to have a client as a Facebook friend?

There’s no ethics code that explicitly forbids accepting such a request, but guidelines from the American Psychological Association and experts in mental health ethics recommend against having clients as Facebook friends. People often use social media accounts to share very revealing information about themselves.

Is it OK to look at your client’s personal websites?

It’s OK to pull up a client’s personal website or Facebook page during a therapy session to see pictures of his or her children or to better understand a personal crisis he’s coping with, says Barnett. But spying just because you can is inappropriate, he says.

Should clients join clients’ Facebook groups?

Clients can also join causes they feel passionate about. Facebook has hundreds of such groups. Although connecting with old friends can be enjoyable, the inevitable and sometimes painful “walk down memory lane” may also bring to light stressful issues for clients.