Should You Build A Friendship with Your Therapist?
Friendship Definition: For upon|When you’re taking the time to choose a mental health care professional that fits your needs, it’s important to find someone that you feel comfortable and safe with. You’ll be sharing intimate details about your life, challenges, and thoughts, so it’s a reasonable assumption that you’ll develop a close relationship with this professional. However, some people may misunderstand the dynamic that develops from these deep talks and consultations.
During your sessions with a mental health care provider, you’ll likely be diving into your innermost thoughts, childhood traumas, or even your plans for the future. While these professionals are there to help you overcome difficulties, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best candidates for your next best friend. This is why it’s important to understand the difference between your professional relationship and creating a relationship outside of your sessions. Friendship Definition.
The Difference Between “Friendly” and “Friends”
It’s important to make the distinction between being friendly with your mental health care provider and being friends with them. A friendly attitude between the two of you can help to ease any tension and create a comfortable environment that allows you to open up more and work through your struggles. However, becoming friends with them refers to seeing or talking to them outside of the scope of your mental health treatment. Friendship Definition.
Your therapist needs to get close to and potentially cross certain boundaries to help you work through mental health conditions. However, boundary crossing is not the same as boundary violations. A violation could put either of you in harm’s way and potentially become exploitative due to the power dynamic between the two of you.
You don’t necessarily need to worry about your professional relationship if you run into them outside of the office; instead, it’s important to remember that there is a boundary between you in a regular social setting outside of your scheduled time with them. If you’re looking for more advice on building strong friendships and social presence, you can find medically-reviewed articles on the subject here: https://www.betterhelp.com/
Enforcing Professional Boundaries
Building a personal relationship with your therapist is an unethical practice that could affect your treatment. This is called a “dual relationship” and refers to the fact that the therapist is familiar with you outside of your scheduled treatment. This doesn’t just mean as a friend – it could also refer to if you’re a family member, student, colleague, or any other associate of your mental health care provider. Friendship Definition.
Avoiding dual relationships is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a significant factor in confidentiality. It also reduces any influence on your treatment, like bias and familiarity with the situations you may discuss. To maintain this healthy distance from your situation, a mental health care provider must remain outside of your personal life in order to approach each scenario with the best advice possible.
Although your mental health care professional will likely become someone that knows your fears, aspirations, and concerns, this is all to help facilitate a productive treatment of mental health conditions. In order to help you develop the tools you’ll need to succeed in difficult moments, they need to better understand your reasoning, background, and underlying biases. Friendship Definition.
Maintaining Relationships Post-Treatment
What happens if you have a great relationship with your therapist but you need to end treatment with them? This could be because of a distant move, insurance change, or even because you no longer feel the need to continue treatment. In this case, it’s important to maintain a professional relationship with them – however, that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out at times.
Before ending your final session, discuss with your mental health care professional their parameters for interacting with past clients. They may encourage you to provide them with updates, email them with questions, or even for references if you’re looking for a new provider. If you’re interested in staying in touch, it’s best to express this to them and understand their policy, depending on their agency or personal parameters. Friendship Definition.
A positive relationship with your mental health care provider isn’t just an understandable goal as a client but it’s also part of having a quality therapy session. However, becoming friends with your therapist could cause complications with your treatment. Instead, it’s important to understand the boundaries of a professional-client relationship and remain friendly and positive rather than building a personal relationship. Friendship Definition.
Presented by BetterHelp.
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