F2F therapist referral

Dear John,

Just writing an article for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal, and thought I would canvass your opinion and the rest of the list as well of course.

Similar to Mahau's paper on Cyber-infidelity, I've been thinking about at what point should a face-to-face therapist refer a client to someone else (online or offline) because lack of online experience means they have no concept of the online relationship. This encompasses cyber-infidelity of course, but also the intense nature of e-mail relationships.

To illustrate, a friend mailed me:

"My therapist has no modem, how can he ever possibly understand that reading and rereading my emails from Pete to get every nuance from them is normal behaviour? He knows that I have never met him, have no knowlege of what he looks like, only chatted on AOL and e-mailed, and yet everytime I see him on my Buddy List or his screename in my mailbox, my heartrate soars and my day will then be a happy one. I think my therapist thinks I'm delusional..."

Ethically, should the therapist refer on? If yes, to an online counsellor? Or should he buy a computer and modem lol?

All opinion gratefully received.

Best wishes, Kate

Replies:

Re:F2F therapist referral, by John, 09/19/01

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.