How can including the same file multiple times in a PHP script impact session handling and overall functionality?

Including the same file multiple times in a PHP script can lead to conflicts with session handling and overall functionality. To prevent this issue, you can use the `require_once` or `include_once` functions instead of `require` or `include` to ensure that the file is only included once.

<?php
require_once 'session_handling.php';
// Rest of the code
?>