If you have ever received mental health treatment for depression, you can understand why doctor-patient confidentiality is so important. For children who are being treated for depression, doctor-patient confidentiality is an especially important facet of treatment, for several reasons:
- 1. Promoting Autonomy: As your child matures, so does her need for privacy and confidentiality. As she gets older, she also naturally pulls away from her family and identifies more with her peers, forcing her to become more self-sufficient and independent. As she learns to make responsible decisions and care for herself, she becomes deserving of an appropriate amount of privacy and confidentiality.
- 2. Positive Therapeutic Relationship: A mental health provider's therapeutic alliance with your child is of paramount importance. Trust and confidentiality are key factors to this relationship.
In fact, some research has shown that a positive therapeutic alliance may be more important that the type of therapy utilized in treatment.
- 3. Fear of Negative Consequences: Many children and teens are concerned that if they reveal certain issues, they will be punished or face negative consequences, especially if the information gets back to a parent.
While confidentiality should not be an excuse for negative behaviors, a child should be free to be honest about their behaviors so she can receive proper treatment.
Aside from a provider's legal and ethical obligations to disclose information, children should not fear punishment from personal thoughts and feelings.
- 4. Future Success: Unfortunately, a stigma often surrounds mental illness, which may cause some to be wary about seeking treatment. While laws exist to outlaw discrimination, many teens worry about a breach of confidentiality to admission counselors, teachers, peers, employers, colleagues, or law enforcement, and the impact that it may have on future pursuits.
- 5. Personal Identity: Sometimes, a child or teen may be struggling with issues surrounding her identity or sexuality. While these struggles are common and nothing to be ashamed of, a child should have the opportunity to disclose personal identity information on her own terms without fear of disclosure.
6. Sense of Trust: Developing a sense of trust is a very early developmental milestone, which can certainly be shaken if expectations of trust are violated. Once violated, trust can be difficult to recoup in the eyes of a child. The rights to privacy and confidentiality are certainly essential points of trust.
As a parent and advocate to your child, you want to make sure that your child quickly recovers from depression. Advocating and protecting your child often includes promoting autonomy and fostering an environment of trust.
Sources:
Daniel J. Martin, John P. Garske, M. Katherine Davis. "Relation of the Therapeutic Alliance With Outcome and Other Variables: A Meta-Analytic Review." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000 68(3): 438-450.
Potential Ethical Violations. American Psychological Association. Accessed: December 02, 2010. http://www.apa.org/topics/ethics/potential-violations.aspx
