Why Do Therapists Record Sessions? 📼

This article has been reviewed for accuracy by John Cottrell, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Medical Disclaimer: The information and recommendations on our site do not constitute a medical consultation. See a certified medical professional for diagnosis.

Therapy sessions are supposed to be confidential places for patients to work through mental blocks, which is why many people are shocked when they see a therapist recording their sessions. There is a reason why therapists record sessions, and it’s to help their patients, not to satisfy their curiosity or violate boundaries.

Therapists have several reasons for recording sessions. The most common reason why therapists record their patients is to review their techniques and share them with a supervisor to get insights. Usually, therapists who record sessions are in training or still working toward certification. Some therapists record sessions to help clients recall helpful patterns or to analyze group dynamics.

In this article, we will be discussing the reasons why therapists record sessions as well as the legal obligations they have to fulfill before pressing record.

Recording Sessions and Therapist Training

The most common use for recorded sessions is to help therapists who are in training improve their technique. Many professors or mentors actually require graduate students to record therapy sessions as part of their coursework before they can receive certification.

Even professional therapists with years of experience sometimes record their sessions if they are training in a new technique, are undergoing a review process at their job, or just want to modify their approach.

Recording sessions help with therapist education in a few different ways:

Getting feedback from a neutral party
Reinforcing specific techniques
Analyzing body language, vocal dynamics, and other subtle cues

Although it seems as if the benefits are one-sided, the client benefits from sessions that are recorded for training sessions as well. Reviewing those videos helps therapists become better at their job, which in turn will lead to better, more productive sessions for clients.

The Certification Process

The road to becoming a therapist is long and hard. It involves years of education, passing a certification exam, and a practical component. Most therapists need at least a master’s degree in psychology or a similar field.

To become a practicing therapist, graduate students need supervised clinical experience because no amount of textbook learning can prepare someone to handle the complex realities of psychological care. However, just dropping a trainee in the deep end with no supervision will harm both the trainee and the patient who receives clumsy, inexperienced care.

Often, clinical supervisors and graduate school professors require trainees to record some of their sessions. Recording sessions makes for a more productive review process as the supervisor can get an accurate picture of what happened during the session without actually being in the room and throwing the client off-guard.

Recordings play an important role in the training and clinical supervision process, but not at the expense of a patient’s rights. The recordings are as anonymous as possible and are usually destroyed once the supervision period is over.

Training in New Techniques

Even after they are certified, therapists never stop learning. There are many different therapy techniques out there, from CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to the PACT model (Patient-Aligned Care Teams). Some of these techniques are very different from each other and require a massive adjustment, for example, using specific words or phrases to prompt clients from what a therapist learned while in training.

That’s why some therapists will record sessions, even if they’re experienced, to ensure that they are actually using the new techniques that they are trying to learn. They may share those recordings with a peer group or supervisor who is helping them pick up new techniques. Some training programs, including the PACT model, actually require video review for training therapists, even ones with years of clinical experience.

If a therapist discloses that they are recording your sessions to improve their grasp of a therapy technique, that will help you as hopefully; the improved knowledge will lead to more productive sessions.

Therapist Review

Some therapists have to undergo periodic reviews, depending on where they work. Some clinics or practices require periodic video recordings to ensure that their therapists are doing a good job, following ethical industry standards, and sticking to any clinic guidelines regarding technique.

How Can Recording Sessions Help Patients?

So far, we’ve discussed how recording therapy sessions can make therapists better at their jobs. However, recording sessions can help patients besides just making your therapist more useful.

Your therapist may not want to record every session, but recording a few sessions with key components can improve your progress during therapy.

Improving Recall

One of the most common problems clients face is that when they leave the therapy office, they forget the progress that they made with their therapist and revert to their old habits. Recording sessions can help clients stick with the progress that they made. If therapists think recordings will help recall, they will share some of their records with the client.

Sometimes, a therapist will recommend recording only specific portions of a session or a few sessions instead of all of the time you spend together. For example, if you are going over a specific breathing exercise to help manage anxiety, you may record that session so that you have a reference point for those helpful tips.

Certain patients benefit from recording all of their therapy sessions. Therapists working with patients that have memory issues, such as dementia or amnesia, record their sessions so that the patients can refresh their memories in between. Otherwise, each session starts from the same starting point, and nobody progresses.

The goal of therapy is to help patients achieve consistent growth that is not confined to the therapist’s office. If the recording can help build progress in between sessions, then therapists will add that to their technique.

Analyzing Group Dynamics

Some therapists record sessions in couples counseling, family therapy, and group therapy. Later, the therapist and the patients use the recordings to analyze dynamics between each other and pick up on hidden cues.

This is particularly helpful in situations where the clients have a long-standing relationship, for example, as spouses or as a parent and children. They may react to each other with subtle body language, facial cues, and vocal changes that unintentionally trigger a negative reaction in others around them. Often, neither the person doing the reacting nor the person setting off their partner or family member is aware of this dynamic.

Reviewing video footage of a tense moment during therapy can help clients analyze their behavioral patterns, articulate what is making them upset, and work to change that behavior. Pinpointing the moment of change can also help a therapist guide their clients toward breakthroughs.

However, recording a group session comes with additional logistical concerns. Many states have two-party consent laws, which means that everyone in the recording has to agree to be on camera or on audio. If even one person is not comfortable with that, then the group session cannot be recorded. Even in states that do not have this law, therapists should not record group sessions unless every participant is comfortable with it.

When Recording Isn’t Helpful

Although recording a therapy session can be a helpful tool for some clients, in other situations, a therapist may recommend against recording or keeping the recordings to themselves.

Some people become self-conscious when they know they are on camera, even if they requested the recording. This causes them to adjust their behavior, which is unhelpful when the benefits of therapy hinge on honesty and authenticity.

Others become obsessed with a therapist’s words for validation and may develop an unhealthy fixation over recordings of their own sessions. This is also unhelpful as the major benefits of therapy come from introspection, not blindly following a therapist’s guidance.

What Does a Therapist Need to Do Before Recording a Session?

Recording a therapy session is not as simple as the therapist pulling out a device and pressing record. There are important ethical considerations and sometimes legal concerns that therapists have to discuss with their clients before recording.

Informed consent means that patients need to have all the information about recording before they agree to share their information. Therapists need to disclose why they are recording the sessions, who will see those recordings, and what will happen to them. For example, if a therapist is a trainee who will be sharing the recordings with a supervisor and then destroying them after review, that information needs to be shared at the beginning of a session.

Besides providing this information orally and answering any questions that clients may have, therapists have to provide information about recording in writing. Clients have to sign a written contract detailing all of the information about recording and sometimes initial each paragraph to certify that they actually read the information.

This may seem like overkill just for a simple recording, but it’s done to protect both the therapist and the client. The client deserves to know what their very sensitive personal information will be used for, and the therapist needs protection from any legal issues that could happen if a client changes their mind.

Ethical Considerations

Certification boards and associations of psychotherapists have very clear guidelines regarding when it is appropriate to record sessions. A therapist can only record a session if it benefits the client in some way. For example, if a trainee therapist is recording sessions to work with a supervisor, the clients will benefit from having a better therapist.

If a recording only benefits the therapist, then guidelines advise against it, and the therapist may even get in trouble for recording anyway. For example, if a therapist wants to write a book about treating certain problems and wants to record clients for material, that is a violation of ethical guidelines because only the therapist would selfishly benefit.

Privacy Laws

Besides ethical guidelines of the profession, therapists need to consider the legal implications of recording sessions. Some states have two-party privacy laws, meaning that everyone in a recording has to consent to be on camera or on a microphone. A therapist who violates this boundary will lose their license and may even face legal action.

Therapists working across state lines, for example, in teletherapy, need to be aware of laws in their state and the client’s state.

What Happens to Therapy Session Recordings?

Usually, there are very clear guidelines for what happens after a recording’s stated purpose is over. The recordings will be archived in a safe place with limited access, or they will be destroyed. The profession is very strict about patient privacy.

These concerns about patient privacy are why therapists often discourage patients from recording sessions themselves. Patients may not be aware of privacy concerns and later regret sharing their recordings. Patients are also not constrained by HIPAA or other agreements and could share the recordings, violating the therapist’s privacy.

Here are some other questions you may have about recording during therapy sessions.

Why Is Record-Keeping Important in Counseling?

Even if therapists do not video or audio record a session, they will probably take notes while you are talking. Record-keeping is important during therapy because it helps refresh the therapist’s memory between sessions, generate ideas for next meetings, and protect the therapist in case of a liability dispute.

Can a Client Record a Therapy Session?

Sometimes, clients can record a therapy session. However, clients need to ask their therapists for permission first, particularly in states that have two-party consent laws regarding recordings. Some therapists may reject client recordings because they can make the client regress in terms of mental progress.

Conclusion

A therapist recording your session may seem strange at first, but the profession has strict guidelines in place regarding recordings and their use. Usually, therapists use those recordings to become better at their job, whether they are trainee students working under clinical supervision or established professionals trying out a new technique.

Therapists will not share their recordings with just anyone, sometimes not even you, unless they think there is a specific benefit that a client can get from reviewing their own sessions. Before recording, therapists must get informed consent in writing from clients.

John Cottrell, Ph.D., is a yoga instructor and certified yoga therapist in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He has been teaching yoga since 2000. John is originally from Oakland, California, earning his Master of Science and Ph.D. from Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto, California. His clinical practice led him to child and adolescent psychotherapy, drug and alcohol treatment, psychological and neuropsychological testing, and group/couples therapy. John continues his devotion to sharing health and well-being through his business, mbody. He offers private and group yoga classes, yoga therapy, workshops, retreats, written yoga articles, and a men’s yoga clothing line.

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