Dual Relationships Essay

Dual relationships in a psychological or therapist aspect can be common and sometimes unavoidable. An example of dual relationships in the psychology community would be a therapist having a student as a client. This can be known as a nonsexual dual relationship, which can be complex and can affect both counselors and the clients’ alike (Herlihy & Corey, 1992). Research has been conducted asking whether it is appropriate for students to be clients of their college counselors, with that question there were a broad array of opinions on the topic, some with interests in the dual relationships and some that were not. A major issue that could arise from a dual relationship like a therapist student relationship is that the therapist could have impaired

An example of this would be a therapist and a client living in the same community. This type of multiple relationship between a therapist and client can be somewhat unavoidable at times. Mostly for the fact that it can unavoidable because of the small living areas, this can be areas where most individuals in a community know each other due to small living situations (Zur, 2015). The issue that can arise with this is that there can be confidentiality issues, because if individuals know each other in a community it can be challenging to keep information away from others. An example of that would be the therapist has a client that works as a grocery store cashier in the community. If the therapist goes into the store and speaks with the client/cashier there could be issues where the client may speak with the therapist as if they are in the office, or others in the store may wonder how the cashier knows that therapist/individual. Multiple relationships can be avoidable but at times it can be unavoidable due to these small living situations and even being in a small town with everyone knowing each other. With this type of communal multiple relationship it can be shown that they may be unexpected because even if the therapist and client do not know each other personally there could be a situation where they end up on the same community sports team or even have the same friends on a social networking site (Zur, 2015). Looking into the ramifications that can ensue with this type of multiple relationship is if there is confidentially issues that arise, there could be lawsuits between the therapist and the client. Even if they are unintentional, it can still happen if the client feels that their confidentiality has been broken, especially if there are no guidelines put into place. With dual relationships and multiple relationships, psychologists can look at the APA Code of