What are therapists obligations

[Anonymous]

What does a therapist have to do if the person they are seeing HAD suicidal thoughts. They want to talk about what happened in fear that it will happen again?

[Anonymous]

A psychotherapist has a duty to maintain confidentiality and can only break that if in their clinical judgment they believe the person is at imminent risk of serious physical harm to themselves or to others. So, the fact that someone in the past has had suicidal thoughts isn't a reason to break confidentiality, and it isn't by itself a reason allowing the therapist to have the person put in the hospital against their will. Not even all current suicidal thoughts meet that standard. It has to be an imminent risk of physical harm to self or others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A psychotherapist has a duty to maintain confidentiality and can only break that if in their clinical judgment they believe the person is at imminent risk of serious physical harm to themselves or to others. So, the fact that someone in the past has had suicidal thoughts isn't a reason to break confidentiality, and it isn't by itself a reason allowing the therapist to have the person put in the hospital against their will. Not even all current suicidal thoughts meet that standard. It has to be an imminent risk of physical harm to self or others.

This. Plus, suicidal thoughts aren't all that uncommon among people who are depressed or very anxious. When the thoughts progress to plan, intention, preparation - that's when intervention is required.

[Anonymous]

As others have mentioned, just having suicidal thoughts in the past or present does not warrant breaking confidentiality. Level of depressions is assessed. Also you would be asked :

Have you attempted suicide in the past?
Do you have a plan?
If so, what does the plan entail?

[Anonymous]

OP, share your thoughts in the past with your therapist. Thoughts that occurred in the past are just part of your past history. They do not indict you as a suicide risk today or make you seem like a bad or dangerous person.