Money: personal issues affect professional practice

Money is a taboo subject. Clinicians have much ambivalence about money, both personally and professionally, and are often more comfortable discussing clients' issues around money than examining their own. As a result, how clinicians handle money with clients is often determined by the clinicians' personal feelings about money; however, they do not explore the meaning and origin of these feelings or determine how these feelings affect their practices. This article explores the conscious and unconscious issues surrounding money, case examples of therapists' dilemmas in handling money, and implications for practice.