They require leaving the office and going to open places, mixing with the crowd, or getting on an airplane. Practicing risk management by staying in the office cold, aloof and detached is like the story about the flasher in Alaska where it is too cold to flash, so he just describes it. It neither works for the flasher nor for our clients. Relying on a neurotic or psychotic clients' distorted reports is futile and a set up for failure. Also, clients' familiarity with my spiritual beliefs and personal ethics help them trust me more readily and realistically.
Familiarity often shortens the length of therapy and increases it's effectiveness.
There is an unsubstantiated myth that familiarity and dual relationships interfere with the transference analysis. Whether or not I know the people or they know me outside of therapy, transference and counter-transference take place and if the clinician is so inclined the analysis can take place. While privacy is often an important component in increasing psychotherapeutic effectiveness, it can also be a double-edged sword when it is used as an excuse for isolation. The privacy-secrecy argument also has been used to justify many therapists' attempts to hide, assert power inappropriately or exploit. Sexual exploitation is less likely to occur if the therapist is also working with the spouse of a client, or has an outside connection to the family, perhaps through church.