Conflict is inevitable in marital relationships. Romantic relationships have their ups and downs, and when couples have marital issues, they seek counseling services. Marital counseling, which is often provided by legal professionals and close relatives, allows couples to solve their marital issues as well as enhance their marital relationship (Hewison et al., 2016). It gives couples a chance to not only apprehend their problems but also fix their relationship. However, some couples hesitate to seek marital counseling, fearing that what they share with their therapists may end up in divorce court. This paper will discuss whether what couples share with their therapists may end up in divorce court.
Therapists are legal experts who are licensed to provide therapeutic services. They are guided by a canon of ethics which they are supposed to follow as part of their licensure. This includes Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) and Licensed Mental Health Counsellors (LMHCs), among other licenses (Shaw & Shaw, 2006). One of the principles outlined in this ethics is confidentiality. Therapists are expected to keep information confidential (Larmont-Mills et al., 2018). As such, the participants in therapy are protected by a number of privacy laws. Even when subpoenaed by a judge, therapists are limited in the amount of information they can disclose. The only exception to the legal status is when it comes to disclosing confidential information pertaining to health risks, such as suicidal thoughts or child abuse.
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As such, what a spouse says or thinks in a therapeutic session will not necessarily end up in a divorce court. This is because therapists have canons of ethics that are strictly laid out to protect the participants in therapy. Simply put, what spouses share with their therapists is confidential unless it relates to matters pertaining to health risks or child abuse. Thus, if a spouse or spouses start marital counseling, what they or say may not end up in divorce court.
References
Hewison, D., Casey, P., & Mwamba, N. (2016). The effectiveness of couple therapy: Clinical outcomes in a naturalistic United Kingdom setting. Psychotherapy , 53 (4), 377.
Lamont-Mills, A., Christensen, S., & Moses, L. (2018). Confidentiality and informed consent in counselling and psychotherapy: a systematic review. Melbourne: PACFA .
Shaw, H. E., & Shaw, S. F. (2006). Critical ethical issues in online counseling: Assessing current practices with an ethical intent checklist. Journal of Counseling & Development , 84 (1), 41-53.
