Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors E-Book

Sharon K. Anderson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 390

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors utilizes positive discussions accompanied by a variety of thought-provoking exercises, case scenarios, and writing assignments to introduce readers to all the major ethical issues in psychotherapy. * First book designed to engage students and psychotherapists in the process of developing a professional identity that integrates their personal values with the ethics and traditions of their discipline * Authors take a positive and proactive approach that encourages readers to go beyond following the rules and to strive for ethical excellence * Utilizes a variety of thought-provoking exercises, case scenarios, and writing assignments * Authors present examples from their own backgrounds to help clarify the issues discussed * Text emphasizes awareness of one's own ethical, personal, and cultural backgrounds and how these apply to one's clinical practice

Leseprobe

Contents

About the Authors

Preface

Introduction

A Quick Note on Terminology

Ethical Acculturation

Developing a Professional Identity

Professional Balancing Acts

How We Will Help You in the Process of Ethical Acculturation

Food for Thought: Personal and Professional Relationships

Journal Entry: Adjectives

What This Book Is Not

Journal Entry: Chapter Reflections

Food for Thought: What Would You Do?

Coming Attractions

Part I: Taking Stock

1: Basics of Awareness

Food for Thought: Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

Motivations

Journal Entry: Motivations

Food for Thought: Professional Motivation

Values

Journal Entry: Values, Nothing More than Values

Food for Thought: Exploring Personal Motivations and Values

Virtues and Moral Courage

Food for Thought: Virtues

Ethics Autobiography – Part 1

Journal Entry: Ethics Autobiography, Part 1

Basics of Self-care

Food for Thought: Stress

Food for Thought: Specific Wellness Strategies

Journal Entry: Staying Vibrant

2: Basics of Awareness

Food for Thought: Hello! I’m Right Here – Why Can’t You See Me?

Privilege

Food for Thought: Your Own Invisible Knapsack of Privilege

Discrimination

Journal Entry: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

Social Responsibility

Journal Entry: Social Responsibility and Motivations

3: The Process of Acculturation

Food for Thought: On the Street Where You Live

Journal Entry: Friends and/or Colleagues

The Process of Ethical Acculturation

Journal Entry: Surprise, Surprise

Four Strategies of Acculturation

Integration

Journal Entry: Acculturation Strategies

Acculturation Stress

Food for Thought: Acculturation Stress

Food for Thought: More Acculturation Stress

How to Deal with Acculturation Stress

Mismatch with the Profession?

Part II: The Nuts and Bolts of Psychotherapy Ethics

4: The Ethical Culture of Psychotherapy

Ethical Foundations

Journal Entry: Foundations

Psychotherapy Is a Unique Relationship

Competence: What It Is and What It Isn ’t

Multicultural Competence

Journal Entry: My Current Location on the Road to Multicultural Competence

Journal Entry: Professional Behaviors

Precursors to Good and Bad Therapist Behaviors: Green and Red Flags

What Are Green Flags and Red Flags?

Green Flag: Guarded Guarantees

RRed Flag: Logistical Laxity

REDJournal Entry: Ethics Autobiography, Part 2

Ethical Choice Process

Conclusion

5: “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Therapy!”

Food for Thought: Boundaries

Boundaries: What They Are and Why They Are So Important

Red Flags: Invidious Invitations and Reprehensible Rationalizations

Boundary Crossings and Violations

Red Flag: Exciting Exceptions Equal Excruciating Effects

Journal Entry: When Does a Boundary Crossing Become a Boundary Violation?

Giving Advice

Food for Thought: Acculturating to Giving Advice

Therapist Self-disclosure

Food for Thought: Personal and Professional Considerations in Self-disclosure

Food for Thought: Self-disclosure

Touching: Crossing a Physical and Psychological Boundary

Food for Thought: To Touch or Not to Touch

Journal Entry: Touch Continuum

Precursors to Boundary Violations

Red Flag: Counterproductive Curiosity About Clients

Red Flags: Spiritual Selling, Invidious Invitations, and Shared Secrets Seem Suspicious

Perspectives on Multiple Relationships

Green Flag: Beneficial Boundary Bolstering, and Red Flag: Compromised Confidentiality

Food for Thought: Multiple Relationships

Even When Therapy Is Over, the Relationship Lives On

Food for Thought: Posttermination Relationships

Flashing Yellow Sign: Slippery Slope Ahead

Inadvertent Contact

Being a Therapist for Someone You Already Know

Green Flag: Responsible Referrals

Journal Entry: Acculturating to Boundaries

Conclusion

6: Confidentiality

Sensitivity and Understanding of Confidentiality

Journal Entry: Me and Secrets

REDRed Flag: Compromised Confidentiality

REDJournal Entry: Compromised Confidentiality

Food for Thought: Why Do We Feel the Need to Share Client Information?

Green Flag: Requests for Written Releases

Food for Thought: To Breach or Not to Breach

Breaching Confidentiality

Journal Entry: Once More into the Breach

Food for Thought: Spouse Abuse

It’s a Small World After All

Privilege and Confidentiality

Red Flag: Porous Privacy

7: Informed Consent

The Basics

Journal Entry: Informed Consent in Our Cultures of Origin

The Three-Legged Stool

Ethics

Journal Entry: Foundations of Consent

The Culture of Consent

Journal Entry: Personal Components of Informed Consent

Food for Thought: Getting Along with a Long Consent Process

Journal Entry: Informed Refusal

Food for Thought: Assent

Green Flag: Informative Information

Food for Thought: Persuasive Information

Journal Entry: Information, Please

Acculturation Tasks and Stresses

Green Flag: Amicable Advice about Alternatives

Red Flag: Dissing the Different

Food for Thought: Credentials

Red Flag: Defensive Declarations

Food for Thought: Perspective-taking on Documentation

Green Flags: Clear Consent and Boundary Bolstering

8: Making the Most of Supervision

The Nature of Supervision

Food for Thought: Authority Figuring

The Ethical Complexity of Supervision

Journal Entry: Acculturation to Supervision – the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

Food for Thought: Your Favorite Student

Food for Thought: Your Favorite Supervisor

Food for Thought: Therapy or Supervision?

Food for Thought: Boundaries

Making the Most of Supervision

Food for Thought: Informed Consent and Supervision

A Word about Consultation

Green Flag: Beneficial Boundary Bolstering

9: Ending Psychotherapy

Journal Entry: Endings

The Good and the Ethical: Positive Elements of Termination

When Should Psychotherapy End?

Food for Thought: Is Therapy Over?

Who Initiates the Discussion of Termination?

Red Flag: Sideline Solicitations

Journal Entry: Better Never than Late

Food for Thought: How to Suggest More Treatment

Green Flags: Good Goals and Ethical Endings

Worst Termination Ever: Getting Complained Against

Part III: The Ethical Ceiling

10: Putting It All Together

Practice, Practice, Practice

Green Flags: Beneficial Boundary Bolstering, Effective Ethical Explanations, and Ethical Explorations

Journal Entry: Goals of Psychotherapy

Ethics Policies

Journal Entry: Cultures

Ethics Autobiography – Update

Journal Entry: Ethics Autobiography Update

Toward Ethical Excellence

A Final Word

Appendix A: Possible Information to Be Shared with Clients

Issues to Address about the Logistics of Therapy

Issues to Address about the Therapeutic Process

Issues to Address about Ethics Policies

Issues About You and Self-disclosure

Appendix B: Policy Areas

Reference

Author Index

Subject Index

Praise for Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors

“Anderson and Handelsman have written a truly unique ethics book; one that will be of value to every new as well as seasoned psychotherapist in professions from social work to psychiatry. They write about professional ethics as a process of acculturation that requires the reader to consider themselves, their motivations, and their feelings about the ethical requirements of the professions. In order to facilitate the process of self-awareness, they provide a series of activities like journaling to help the professional continue to expand their awareness as they encounter topics like confidentiality or multiple relationships. Whether or not instructor chooses this book as a primary text, it should be a supplement to every course that is taught.”

Karen Strohm Kitchener, Professor Emeritus, University of Denver

“This book is unique in my experience in that it encourages readers to reflect on their own ethical predispositions as they think about psychotherapy ethics. The book also helps students understand differences between being an ethical person and an ethical psychotherapist – a distinction that is difficult for most students, and many professionals, to appreciate. The authors’ emphasis on helping readers know themselves as well as the professional ethical guidelines is an important advance over other ethics texts. The discussion of ‘positive ethics’ is also unique and helpful for professionals.”

William E. Sobesky, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

“This excellent book for students or any professionals in psychotherapy and counseling is part of a welcome trend in ethics education that challenges students to strive for their highest ethical ideals. Anderson and Handelsman do far more than repeat rules and facts; they use the ethical acculturation model to encourage students to reflect on their professional identity and values. The book contains useful learning aides and exercises such as the ethics autobiography, the ethics journal, realistic vignettes, appendices, and useful charts. Anderson and Handelsman succeed in presenting their well considered perspectives on psychotherapy in a clear and personal style of writing. I highly recommend this book!”

Samuel Knapp, Director of Professional Affairs, Pennsylvania Psychological Association

“This book is interesting and engaging. A variety of scenarios and exercises make the process come alive for the reader and encourage self-assessment and self-reflection. As an instructor I think the text would generate many meaningful class discussions. It is easyto-read and easy to follow.”

Robin Lewis, Old Dominion University

“I really like this book….it approaches ethics in a manner that is hopeful, positive, but no-nonsense and thorough. I think it is one of the best integration of concepts around ethics and ethical decision-making processes that I have seen, and one of the most easily applied to a variety of levels of training. I also like the application of an acculturation model as a way to understand our initiation into the part of our profession that has to do with ethics, ethical decision-making, and ethical behavior.”

Susan L. Prieto-Welch, Counseling Center Director, University of Notre Dame

To KK – mentor, colleague, and friend.

And JC – thank you! You are so good to me.

Sharon

To my mother, Eleanore Welsh. To my wife, Margie Krest.

And to all my teachers, including all my students.

Mitch

This edition first published 2010

© 2010 Sharon K. Anderson and Mitchell M. Handelsman

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anderson, Sharon K.

Ethics for psychotherapists and counselors: a proactive approach/Sharon K. Anderson, Mitchell M. Handelsman.

p.; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4051-7767-2 (hardcover: alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-7766-5 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Psychotherapists–Professional ethics. 2. Counselors–Professional ethics.

I. Handelsman, Mitchell M. II. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Psychotherapy–ethics. 2. Counseling–ethics. WM 420 A549e 2010]

RC455.2.E8A53 2010

616.89′14-dc22

2009009595

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in Palatino 10/13 pt by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Singapore

About the Authors

Sharon K. Anderson received her Ph.D. in counselling psychology from the University of Denver. She has taught in masters level counselling program at Colorado State University since 1994. As a professor, she teaches the professional ethics and legal issues course and supervises practicum and internship experiences for master level counsellors. For several years, Sharon delivered state approved jurisprudence workshops to psychotherapists from many disciplines seeking state licensure. She herself is a licensed psychologist. During her time as faculty, Sharon has published 2 books, 10 book chapters, and 17 articles.

Mitchell M. Handelsman received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas. He has taught psychology at the University of Colorado Denver since 1982. He was an APA Congressional Science Fellow during 1989–1990, and in 2003–2004 he was president of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association. He is a licensed psychologist and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. In addition, he has won the CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) Colorado Professor of the Year Award and APA’s Division 2 Teaching Award. He has served on numerous professional ethics committees, and has chaired the Colorado Psychological Association Ethics Committee.

Preface

Becoming an ethical psychotherapist or counselor is more than memorization of rules – it is a journey. We wrote this book to help students and practitioners navigate this journey toward a professional identity in a way that integrates their personal ethics and values with the professional ethics and traditions of psychotherapy and counseling.

Our book presents a variety of discussions, case scenarios, thought exercises, and writing assignments to (a) introduce readers to all the major ethical issues in psychotherapy, including boundaries, confidentiality, informed consent, supervision, and terminating therapy; (b) help readers explore their own moral and ethical backgrounds, personal values, ethical thinking, cultural awareness, and professional goals; and (c) take a proactive and preventive approach to applying ethics to every facet of their professional behavior.

The book can be used as a primary or ancillary text for ethics courses in all the mental health fields. It can also be used as a supplemental text for courses in professional issues, psychotherapy methods, counseling theories and techniques, and survey courses in clinical and counseling psychology, social work, counseling, and marital and family therapy.

Because this book focuses on the basic aspects of professional identity and ethical reasoning skills, it will be useful to readers over time as they readjust their professional identities in reaction to inevitable changes in life situations, professional positions, laws/regulations, and ethics codes.

After years of discussion – between ourselves and with colleagues and students – about what it means to be ethically excellent, not just aware of how to stay out of ethical trouble, we decided to write a book that takes a unique approach. Students will find the book engaging, positive in its approach, and respectful of their backgrounds. We invite them to become active explorers, not passive recipients of disembodied rules and laws.

We also wrote this book to help us teach our own courses, and for our fellow instructors who may be new to teaching ethical issues as an entire course or part of a course. Instructors will find that they can organize class discussions and assignments around the exercises and vignettes from the chapters, or they can use the book to supplement their own methods and materials.

We wish to thank many people who have been involved in the long journey we’ve taken since our initial conversations about an ethics book. Our agent, Neil Salkind of Studio B, was instrumental in helping us conceive of this book in its present form and in encouraging us to undertake the project. Our editor, Christine Cardone, has been consistently supportive and instructive – providing just the right amount of guidance to bring this project to fruition. Thanks to Sam Knapp and Michael Gottlieb for their essential work on the ethical acculturation model, and to Allison Bashe for her work on the ethics autobiography. We thank those who provided such careful reviews of this text: R. Rocco Cottone, Robin Lewis, Susan Prieto-Welch, William Sobesky, and Rita Sommers-Flanagan. The following people have provided valuable assistance and feedback to us regarding previous iterations of the book: Tamar Ares, Bill Briggs, Pam Daniel, Pam Fritzler, Sharon Hamm, Susan Heitler, Mark Kirchhofer, Teresa Kostenbauer, Margie Krest, Amos Martinez, Natalie Meinerz, Amber Reed, and Deb Wescott.

Any imperfections that remain in the book, of course, are our responsibility alone.

Introduction

Imagine, if you would, sitting at a first-row table at a psychotherapist comedy club. You’d probably hear something like this from one of the bright young performers:

“What’s the deal with becoming a psychotherapist? I mean, really! I figured the ethical issues – the issues of right and wrong – would be easy. Don’t date your clients, keep their interests at the top of the list, be helpful, have nice furniture. But noooo!! Learning to be an ethical psychotherapist feels like going through the security lines at the airport! You can’t do this, you can’t do that, you can’t bring that with you, and you can only bring so much of this. And then … there’s this thing about how people start to treat you. I thought I would have years to learn all this stuff about being ethical. But, ! I mean I just started graduate school and right away friends and family members start treating me differently – like I’m Sigmund Freud or Dr Phil. I mean they want me to solve their problems. The first day of graduate school, right? I haven’t even paid tuition or read the syllabus and when I get home my sister-in-law is there in my apartment asking how she should raise her kid! I go out to get some air and think about all her questions and my friend who lives on the floor below me asks me what I’ve been up to. I tell him that I’ve started graduate school to become a therapist and he tells me about his crazy sister – and asks if I have any time to “fix” her! My aunt calls up and says, ‘Listen, call your cousin Marty and tell him he needs to see a shrink. He’ll listen to you now.’ I don’t know how to respond to any of these pleas!”