FBI clearance and family therapy?

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who is worried about making it past security clearance for the FBI but is also struggling with some family matters. Does anyone know if it is true that such security clearance requires you to disclose therapy sessions? And if you do need to disclose, will seeking therapy prevent you or your spouse from receiving clearance?

[Anonymous]

The general background investigation form asks about counseling but says to exclude family counseling. I'm pretty sure all agencies use the same form but she could check.

I disclosed plenty of therapy and it raised some eyebrows but I got a clearance.

[Anonymous]

It asks you about your personal mental health. Not family therapy.

[Anonymous]

Mental health is more of a concern.
Best bet for your friend is just to be open and honest about everything asked. But if its not asked about, there is no need to disclose.

[Anonymous]

The bigger concern for your friend should be a polygraph of it's required.

[Anonymous]

It is required pp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bigger concern for your friend should be a polygraph of it's required.

Op. This is a troll. Do not mention poly to your friend. Presumably if he/she is a liar and a cheat they would not have applied to fBI. Especially since those are such highly sought after skills for the CIA.

[Anonymous]

bump for a friend in a similar situation. does anyone know if taking an anti-depressant is likely to inhibit getting a clearance, assuming the person is honest and forthright about everything asked in the form and polygraph? TIA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:bump for a friend in a similar situation. does anyone know if taking an anti-depressant is likely to inhibit getting a clearance, assuming the person is honest and forthright about everything asked in the form and polygraph? TIA!

Shouldn't be a problem. The security clearance process is long and tedious, but pretty straightforward. The investigator will send a form to the medical provider / therapist that basically asks 'given what you know, is there any reason to be concerned.' It's written in much more bureaucratic language but in most situations, the answer will be 'No -- no concerns'. That exchange (and associated signed forms) becomes part of the package that ultimately gets adjudicated.

It's just a long, tedious, and mostly boring process. The worst part is that you get absolutely no information and that drags out over a long period of time, giving one a lot of time to dream up scenarios and convince themselves that X (mental health disclosure, less than perfect finances, etc) caused Y (delay, request for more information, re-adjudication, denial of clearance <rare>. Bureaucratic glitch is BY FAR more likely than any of those specifics, but it's hard to believe that when you're going through it.

[Anonymous]

Antidepressants and Viagra are the most common prescriptions at the pharmacy my friend works at. They would be excluding half the workforce!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Antidepressants and Viagra are the most common prescriptions at the pharmacy my friend works at. They would be excluding half the workforce!

If you are a fed you can probably get by because they will allow you to wait for the full clearance. If you are a contractor and cannot get an interim (which usually only happens with a clean record and no mental health issues), you won't get the job.

Family counseling is excluded so OP is fine. I highly recommend that people rethink the need to go on mental health drugs unless it's an absolute last resort, our culture is too ready to prescribe drugs, look at Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger concern for your friend should be a polygraph of it's required.

Op. This is a troll. Do not mention poly to your friend. Presumably if he/she is a liar and a cheat they would not have applied to fBI. Especially since those are such highly sought after skills for the CIA.

The fail rate for Polys is high. Even if your friend isn't a liar or a cheat, if they have a conscious it's very easy to fail a poly. I can promise you that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Antidepressants and Viagra are the most common prescriptions at the pharmacy my friend works at. They would be excluding half the workforce!

If you are a fed you can probably get by because they will allow you to wait for the full clearance. If you are a contractor and cannot get an interim (which usually only happens with a clean record and no mental health issues), you won't get the job.

Family counseling is excluded so OP is fine. I highly recommend that people rethink the need to go on mental health drugs unless it's an absolute last resort, our culture is too ready to prescribe drugs, look at Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

The bolded part is not always true. I got an interim with mental health disclosures - meds and several therapists. I did explain the reasons -postpartum and relationship issues - and I do think from what my security office told me that this can be an issue for an interim clearance, but it's not automatically denied.

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much, these responses are helpful.

[Anonymous]

It won't be a problem as long as it is disclosed at the appropriate time. We were in the process of blending our families and it was about as messy as it can get - false allegations of abuse, ex-wife wrote letters to the FBI with all kinds of lies about my DH, custody battle..... We were ALL in therapy when DH was going through the initial hire and then security clearance stuff. It had no effct at all.

Just don't be deceptive.