Psychology in Seattle.

Hey deserving listeners, today's episode is about situations in which clients and therapists one or other or both are thinking or even

diving into dating each other and being in a romantic relationship together.

It's considered extremely unethical and grounds for losing your license and maybe even a civil suit.

And I get a lot of emails about this from clients who are attracted to

the therapists. It's a common phenomenon. We've known about it for over a

hundred years in this profession and we've changed the way that

we approach it over the years.

And I've talked about it before on the podcast.

There's been cases in which the therapist and the client have dated or the therapist hits on the client or the client hits on the

therapist. It's a very common thing that I get asked about.

And I thought I would actually talk about it again because I got another email about it that

I think furthers the conversation.

So let's get into that email. It's from an anonymous patron, but first let's

introduce the podcast. This is the Psychology in Seattle podcast. I'm your host Dr Kirk Honda. I'm a therapist and a professor

So let's get into that email and she writes this past year I became close to one of my male friends. I was hoping with time and patience it would turn into something romantic, but he moved away and I was heartbroken.

So I went to a therapist to sort out my emotions.

I purposely picked this therapist because I wanted the male perspective on relationships.

I initially thought two or three sessions would suffice, but I was wrong.

On our second session, I started to find him quite attractive, and on his own, he told me that

he too was divorced with no children.

We connected on an intellectual level.

...