Should I have more than one therapist simultaneously?

The TLDR: The industry says no. I say yes. It’s your choice and you may encounter challenges from other counsellors / psychotherapists and insurance companies if you opt to see multiple counsellors / psychotherapists simultaneously. If you decide to do this in any case, your confidentiality is paramount and I would advise insisting on 100% diligence in this respect from your multiple counsellors / psychotherapists. Though it should be no problem for them to respect that because it’s already part of their professional ethical framework(s).

Here’s a bit more detail.

As I mentioned, more often than not, the counselling / psychotherapy industry’s answer to this question will be a resounding no. If you ask most therapists, they will offer various reasons, either straight from textbooks or the product of their own reflection on the topic; they’re not lying to you, it’s very likely they absolutely believe what they are telling you and have the best of intentions in saying it. The rest of this answer does not dive too deeply into that material but in very brief, the answers will usually focus on ethics, confidentiality, insurance and productivity, the lattermost particularly with respect to clarity of approach for you the client and avoidance of conflicting approaches, advice and strategies.

As also previously mentioned, in my opinion, the answer is yes. Those counsellors / psychotherapists I mentioned above who say no and offer you their various explanations may believe what they are telling you and have the best of intentions for you but that does not necessarily make them right. I think while the justifications for enforcing the one counsellor / psychotherapy rule often sound convincing, they are mostly historical hangovers from the earliest days of counselling and psychotherapy (when well-known practitioners including but not limited to Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were writing in the early twentieth century). But my yes comes with a few caveats anyway. The rest of this answer deals with those caveats.

First but not most importantly, the most practical consideration is financial. Due to their own practical financial and time considerations, many therapists insist on a minimum weekly commitment to therapy with various policies on absences, myself included. If you have multiple therapists who you see weekly, you may end up paying more for therapy overall. Having multiple counsellors / psychotherapists is unlikely to mean faster change or resolution to your personal issues. In my opinion, counselling / psychotherapy is not something you can throw more hands at to get done faster. While multiple therapists may substantially enrich the process, they may not speed it up. So while your therapy may be more rewarding with multiple counsellors / psychotherapists, it may also end up being very costly.

Similarly, if you are paying for therapy using insurance, your insurance company may restrict either the number of sessions they will fund or, if they follow the counselling / psychotherapy industry’s received wisdom, they may also insist you see only one therapist. In either case, you may lose money because they refuse to pay when you see multiple practitioners at once or because your therapy is overall shorter due to paying for multiple therapists over the same duration and using up all your allowed insurance-funded sessions. Before engaging with multiple therapists, I would therefore advise considering your budget and checking your insurance policy carefully.

The next and, in my view, a more important consideration is your confidentiality. If you opt to see multiple counsellors / psychotherapists at once, I advise that you insist they are extra diligent in maintaining your confidentiality and never discuss you with your other therapists (especially if they know them).

This should be no problem for your therapists since strictest client confidentiality is paramount anyway; it’s covered in all major professional ethical frameworks to which therapists must agree in order to maintain their accreditations. Treating your therapy with the utmost confidence should be business as usual for your therapists. But in any case, there is no harm in reiterating the importance of this to them. I think it’s particularly important if you have multiple therapists because you need to feel as safe as possible expressing yourself in each therapy session with no fear of your other therapists finding out anything you don’t want them to find out. It’s your choice what and how you disclose your personal material in counselling / psychotherapy and no business of your therapists’ to compare notes and judge you for consistency.

In summary. Can you see multiple therapists? I say yes but be aware that I am in a minority with this view and you may run into various challenges because of the prevailing view that it’s counterproductive. Be aware though that there is no actual rule against it and it’s ultimately your choice.