Which statement accurately contrasts confidentiality and privilege?

Prepare for the LPCC Law and Ethics Test 2. Use flashcards and multiple-choice questions with explanations. Enhance your understanding of ethics and legal standards for effective counseling practice.

Confidentiality is the therapist’s ongoing duty to protect what clients tell you, rooted in ethical guidelines and, in many cases, supported by law. It covers the broad promise to keep communications private and to disclose information only with consent or under narrowly defined exceptions (like mandated reporting or imminent harm). Privilege is a separate legal protection that prevents certain confidential communications from being disclosed in court; it’s a right held by the client (or, in some cases, by the client on behalf of themselves) to keep communications private during legal proceedings. Because these are distinct ideas—confidentiality as the therapeutic obligation to protect information, and privilege as the client’s legal right to withhold information in court—the statement that best contrasts them is that confidentiality is an ethical and legal obligation to protect information, while privilege is the legal right to withhold information from court.