Ethics Complaints Against Psychologists Are at a Record High — And the Pattern Has Changed

The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) Disciplinary Data System shows a consistent multi-year increase in formal ethics complaints filed with licensing boards. The trend is not simply a function of profession growth — complaint rates per licensed psychologist have increased. More significant than the volume shift is the category shift: technology-related violations, telehealth boundary issues, and dual relationship complaints via social media now constitute a growing proportion of the complaint mix, categories that were negligible a decade ago.

What the Data Shows

ASPPB aggregate data across member boards documents several converging trends:

Volume increase: Total formal complaints have increased year-over-year since 2018, with the steepest increase during 2020–2023 coinciding with the pandemic-era expansion of telehealth and remote practice. Increased access to online licensing board complaint portals has lowered the barrier to filing.

Category shift: The composition of complaints has changed meaningfully:

• Sexual misconduct remains the single most common category leading to license revocation, but its relative proportion has decreased as other categories have grown
• Telehealth violations — including non-compliant platforms, cross-state practice without licensure, and inadequate informed consent in remote settings — emerged as a trackable category during 2021 and has grown each year since
• Social media and dual relationships — boundary violations facilitated by LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and therapist review platforms — constitute a category that did not exist in prior decades
• Documentation and record-keeping — now overlapping with data security and EHR compliance — shows steady increase
• Billing and fraud — a consistent historical category — increasingly involves insurance fraud for services not rendered or services rendered in ways that don't match billing codes

Geographic variation: Complaint rates vary significantly by state, partially reflecting differences in board complaint-filing infrastructure and public awareness. States with online complaint portals show higher complaint volumes, not necessarily higher misconduct rates.

The Technology Driver

The shift in complaint categories reflects practice transformation. Psychologists practicing in 2025 operate in a different environment than those of 2010: telehealth is mainstream, social media contact with clients is routine and fraught, electronic records create both audit trails and data security obligations, and clients are more informed about their rights and more willing to file complaints.

Board members and ethics consultants report a consistent pattern: practitioners who violate ethics codes via technology typically did not intend to violate them — they applied offline standards to online contexts without recognizing that the standards either did not transfer or required specific digital implementation. The practitioner who FaceTimes with a client on the free tier, saves session notes in personal iCloud, and is LinkedIn connections with clients is not malicious — they are operating by 2010 standards in a 2025 environment.

Practical Implications

Know your state board's complaint statistics: Many state boards publish annual disciplinary data. Reviewing this data identifies the specific categories that lead to sanctions in your jurisdiction.

Technology audit as ethics audit: The categories driving increased complaints are largely preventable through systematic review:

• Platform BAA status (post-HIPAA waiver expiration)
• Social media connection policies (documented, communicated to clients)
• Cross-state licensure (for all current telehealth clients)
• Informed consent currency (reflects actual current practice, not pandemic-era defaults)

Documentation standard: The post-HIPAA-waiver environment has elevated documentation standards. Licensing boards increasingly treat inadequate documentation not just as administrative failure but as competence failure.

Professional liability carrier consultation: Most carriers have updated telehealth and technology guidance since 2023. Carriers also provide consultation on complaint defense and proactive risk management. This is an underused resource.