Many parents want to have an active role in their child’s treatment and are duly concerned that laws around confidentiality may limit what they are allowed to know.
Does My Child and Adolescent have Total Confidentiality When They Are Seeing a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist?
Medical services, including seeing a child and adolescent psychiatric provider, are bound and protected by the laws of confidentiality. This means that psychiatrists cannot share private health information with anyone unless a release of information consent has been signed by the client or their parent. This generally provides the desired level of protection that parents seek when it comes to outsiders trying to solicit information about their child without their consent. However, many parents worry they will be precluded from getting necessary information about diagnosis and treatment of their child. For children up to age 12, most kids have little or no concern about their parent’s involvement and typically prefer that the parent be in the session with them to reduce their own anxiety and have help answering questions. As children transition into adolescents, many teens would prefer their information to be kept quiet even from their parents.
Most child and adolescent psychiatrists will take the time at the beginning of the first session to explain to children, and especially teens, that there are limits to their confidentiality. The fact is that parents do have a legal right to information about their child or teens diagnosis and treatment. Parents are even legally allowed to request a copy of the medical records even if their teens would prefer them not to have it. Until the teen is 18, parents do have access to information about them. There are very few limitations to this starting at around age 16 as it pertains to chemical use details and seeking information or treatment related to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In those instances, 16 and 17 years may have complete confidentiality around those specific topics.
How Do We Get our Adolescent to Open Up to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist?
Some teenagers who have taken an adversarial stance toward their parents may be disinclined to open up and be honest with their child and adolescent psychiatrist for fear that information may get back to their parents. Limiting what could be useful information for the psychiatrist could have a negative impact on treatment decisions. Most psychiatrists will spend part of the session talking to the parents and part of the session talking to the teenager. Most good child and adolescent psychiatrists will spend some time at the first session trying to get buy in from both the parents and the teenager. They will request from the parents that they trust the provider to share only what is vital to know and not every detail shared by their teen. The psychiatrist will try to give the parents a broad picture without disclosing all the details. This way the parents feel informed, and the teens feel they have some privacy. For example, at the end of the intake session, they may bring the parents back in for a wrap up and explain that there appears to be some depression issues, without getting into details about why and what may be driving the depression, and then talk about treatment options and what makes the most sense in terms of medication, counseling or both. Most parents are not looking to know every detail; they just want an understanding of what is going on and assurance that there is a plan to help. Most parents just want their teenagers to get the help they need to be happy.
If you are interested in meeting with our child and adolescent psychiatric provider, feel free to contact IPC so you can schedule an appointment with Jackie Grinnell, CNP, PMHNP who can help you complete an assessment, obtain a diagnosis and discuss treatment options. Please call us now at 763-416-4167, or request an appointment on our website: WWW.IPC-MN.COM so we can sit down with you and complete a thorough assessment and help you develop a plan of action that will work for you. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find the peace of mind you deserve.
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