Nonromantic, nonsexual posttherapy relationships between psychologists and former clients: An exploratory study of critical incidents

The authors asked 320 psychologists to participate in a nonrandom, exploratory study by providing incidents of nonromantic, nonsexual relationships with former clients. In addition, these psychologists were asked to discuss whether they saw these relationships as ethically problematic. A total of 91 useable incidents (from a final sample size of 63 respondents) were sorted into eight relationships categories. The results of this study highlight several issues: (a) Psychologists are dealing with a variety of nonromantic, nonsexual relationships with former clients, (b) there is little consensus about the ethicality of these contacts, and (c) future revisions of the Ethics Code (American Psychological Association, 1992) may need to consider nonsexual and nonromantic relationships with former clients.