[Avodah] Who Does Halacha View as the therapists concern?

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Fri, Aug 07, 2015 at 12:28:27AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: Question-from a torah point of view should it make a difference
: who shows up at the therapist's (or Rabbi's)door (for any therapy or
: advice)? How does Halacha balance the needs of the individual, the
: family, the community, Jewish society and/or society in general?

Confidentiality and for that matter focusing on the needs of the client
serves society in general in the long run. Society needs not only
therapists, but therapists clients are willing to get help from. If we
tell therapists that they are to compromise client trust for the sake
of the family, community or society, we will lose that.

So, even if halakhah requires factoring others' needs in to a greater
extent, it might not change things all that much.

(After all, the profession developed those standards for a reason. That
reason needn't reflect a different set of values.)

There are also the secondary effects of the law... If someone loses the
opportunity to offer therapy because disobeying those standards open them
up to threat of suit or legal consequences, we still lose the therapy.
Which has to be factored in to the halachic decision.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Time flies...
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