Confidentiality

Confidentiality is a part of the ethical guidelines of psychologists and means that information between a patient and a therapist cannot be shared with anyone. This applies to patients and any health professional, including doctors and nurses. There are a few exceptions to confidentiality such as the concept of duty to warn which means that confidentiality can be broken if the patient is a threat to themselves (such as being suicidal) or others (threatening to harm another person). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the confidentiality of health records at a federal level in the United States and includes the confidentiality of therapy and mental health information within it.