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reply to each post with 100 words as if you are me and reply hello (person name)
reply to each post with 100 words as if you are me and reply hello (person name)
no generic replies. Each reply should have seprate references
post 1
Justin Pahl posted Jun 10, 2024 8:11 PM
Hello Dr. C and classmates,
Advocates for separating professional and social relationships raise valid concerns about the potential risks involved in blending these spheres. They emphasize the importance of clear boundaries to preserve the therapeutic relationship’s integrity and protect clients from harm. While some social interaction can enhance rapport and trust, excessive personal involvement or dual relationships can blur boundaries, undermine objectivity, and create conflicts of interest. Certain professions, like military service, naturally blend camaraderie with professional duties, while strict boundaries are crucial in fields like psychiatry and counseling to maintain objectivity and confidentiality and avoid potential pitfalls from blurred lines between personal and professional connections.
Dr. Irvin Yalom’s seminal work, “The Gift of Therapy,” delves deeply into the intricacies of mixing personal and professional relationships. He stresses the significance of maintaining firm professional boundaries, emphasizing that these boundaries serve to safeguard the therapeutic relationship’s integrity (Yalom, 2002). By maintaining clear boundaries, therapists can uphold their objectivity, thus ensuring that their decisions and interventions remain focused on the client’s best interests. When boundaries are blurred, there’s a risk of compromising objectivity, potentially harming the client, and undermining the effectiveness of the therapeutic process as a whole.
Social relationships, regardless of their nature, have the potential to interfere with professional relationships, particularly within therapeutic contexts. While occasional social interactions may strengthen and deepen the relationship, benefiting the professional relationship, ongoing or intimate relationships can create dependencies and hinder the client’s autonomy and growth (Adames et al., 2023). Therefore, therapists must exercise caution in navigating social interactions to ensure that they remain conducive to the therapeutic process and do not overshadow the client’s needs or compromise confidentiality.
Ethically, social relationships with current clients become problematic when they encroach upon the integrity of the therapeutic relationship. For example, if a therapist becomes romantically involved with a client, it not only violates ethical guidelines but also undermines the trust and rapport essential for effective therapy. Similarly, disclosing personal information or engaging in social activities that detract from therapy’s focus can exploit the client’s vulnerability and compromise their welfare. Through the maintenance of professional boundaries by understanding and prioritizing ethical principles, therapists can uphold the integrity of the therapeutic process and safeguard their clients’ wellbeing (Adames et al., 2023).
When considering personal or social relationships with former clients, therapists must navigate with caution and sensitivity. While maintaining contact or forming friendships may be acceptable in some cases, therapists must carefully consider factors such as the nature of the therapeutic relationship, the client’s vulnerability, and the potential for harm or exploitation. By adhering to ethical guidelines and prioritizing the client’s wellbeing, therapists can ensure that their interactions with former clients remain respectful, appropriate, and conducive to their ongoing growth and healing.
Concluding the discussion with an evocative quote from our reading material (Adames et al., 2023), which eloquently illustrates both the advantages and the inherent dangers of boundary crossing:
“Crossing a boundary can be profoundly healing and therapeutic. It can reshape how the patient views the therapist. It can strengthen and deepen the working relationship. It can heal rifts, speed growth, and break through an impasse. It can make a patient feel less alone, less hopeless, more understood, and at times less suicidal. Like many powerful resources, crossing a boundary involves risks. Done in the wrong situation, at the wrong time, or with the wrong person, it can knock the therapy off track; sabotage the treatment plan; and offend, exploit, or harm the patient (Pope et al., 2021, pp. 357–358).”
Thank you for reading!
Respectfully,
Justin
References:
Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., Vasquez, M. J. T., & Pope, K. S. (2023). Navigating boundaries. Succeeding as a therapist: How to create a thriving practice in a changing world (pp. 161-168, 341 Pages). American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000321-024
Pope, K. S., Vasquez, M. J. T., & Lindsey, M. A. (2021). Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling: A practical guide (6th ed.). Wiley. pp. 357–358.
Yalom, I. D. (2002). The gift of therapy: An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients. Harper Perennial.
Post 2
Janelle Garcia posted Jun 11, 2024 12:05 AM
Professor and classmates,
Mixing professional and social relationships will be dependent on the perspective of the individual. Speaking for myself, I believe that it is okay to mix professional and social relationships, as long as there is a line between privacy and respect. For example, I have family and/or friends who are lawyers, nurses, or hold professional job titles, but speaking about work or personal information about others’ or myself is not something that is mentioned around other individuals.
Potential problems that can result from mixing professional and social relationships include boundary violations. It is possible for professionals or the client to get too comfortable outside of the work setting and begin to overshare or violate the client’s personal information, which leads to a violation of the professional and client relationship. Social relationships inferred from professional relationships may depend on the individual’s capability of separating the professional from the social. Although it may sound simple to say that professional and social relationships will not interfere, it is not realistic. There may be times when the relationships will interfere, which can lead to potential problems and violations within the relationship.
Social relationships with current clients become unethical when boundaries are crossed, creating a violation in the relationship. Although not all boundaries that are crossed are considered to be violations, it displays the loss of professionalism between the professional and the client. For example, if I have a social and professional relationship with someone who is a doctor, it becomes unethical when that person uses their personal judgment to disclose personal information about me to others. So, by disclosing personal information to others, that person is jeopardizing the relationship and the roles that were expected.
When professionals consider creating personal or social relationships with former clients, I believe they have the liberty to create the relationship. There may have been times when professionals and clients met under unusual circumstances, so if they choose to create personal or social relationships when they are no longer the “client” or the “professional,” it should be allowed. Although individuals should have the freedom to create relationships, there should still be boundaries that create a line of respect among the individuals. If ethical guidelines from a current and/or former client standpoint are taken into consideration, it will benefit the interaction between the individuals.
post 3
Annette Yoder posted Jun 11, 2024 5:54 PM
Blending relationships should certainly be navigated carefully but both the social as well as the professional relationship can benefit if approached and handled correctly. I think it depends a lot on context, the dynamic between people, and the establishment of mutual trust. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach and each situation is different and should be handled appropriately. Ultimately, it comes down to whether it is in the client’s best interest and whether it might affect the therapist’s effectiveness.
Potential problems could include conflicts of interest and in a worse-case scenario, boundary violations in which a client is harmed in some way, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. The risk of harm should always be considered carefully. If it benefits one relationship (e.g. social) but the other (e.g. professional) suffers, this is a potential problem. I don’t think social relationships necessarily interfere with professional relationships but again, it could depend on various factors such as motive, boundaries, or the dynamic between people.
Obviously, sexual or romantic relationships with a client are unethical. This can affect emotional reasoning and both parties’ ability to be objective. Other situations where social relationships with current clients are unethical could include: Borrowing money from a client, going out for drinks with a client, or hiring a client for a service.
After a therapeutic or professional relationship has ended, it should be fine to pursue a personal or social connection, while keeping appropriate boundaries in case the person decides to seek professional help again. Or, if they do wish to return as a client, appropriate boundaries could simply be re-established as each person steps back into their role of client and professional.
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