The Ethical Use of Social Media in Marriage and Family Therapy

Abstract

Increasingly, people spend time online, communicating via e-mail, websites, instant messages, and various social media platforms that incorporate text, video, and online photo albums. Social media have altered the way people spend their time and communicate with each other; this includes mental health professionals. It is imperative that therapists are knowledgeable about the ways social media affects clients’ personal interactions as well as the ethical implications of their own professional use of social media. Professional organizations do not provide adequate ethical guidelines for therapeutic practice regarding social media; therefore, ethical codes should be adjusted to include the new media as they arise. After reviewing related literature from other mental health disciplines, the authors offer recommendations to be integrated into the professional ethical codes for mental health professionals to ensure the ethical use of social media in therapy. The authors organize their recommendations around several key principles from various mental health codes of ethics.