Ethical Issues In The Therapeutic Relationship

Religion plays an important role in the lives of many people, and in such cases, religious principles and beliefs influence all aspects of their lives. With the increasing interest in spirituality in the community, the intersection of psychological services, religion and spirituality is likely to be a growth area in psychology (Plante, 2007). However, working with clients around religion and spirituality issues does present potential ethical challenges.

1. Describe and discuss ethical frameworks within which counselling and therapeutic practitioners work. Include justification for observing codes of conduct and how professionalism is maintained.

The video presentation, Legal and ethical issues for mental health professionals, Vol. 2: Dual relationship boundaries, standards of care & termination (Feldman & Sommers, 2010), is broken up into four vignettes: dual relationships and boundaries, gift giving and touch, beginning treatment, and terminating treatment. Boundary violations occur when there is no clinical purpose for a

This paper will discuss the concept of non-sexual dual relationships between Ms. C and Ms. R., and the ethical consequences of relationships. This paper will also an ethical standard to use a guide when facing a dilemma like Ms. C. In addition to discussing ethical consequences, this paper will also explore how ethical decisions must be made to avoid potentially harmful or exploitive relationships in therapy as well understanding how the Virginia Certificate Board, located in Virginia, may deal with reporting dual relationships, and how different interactions between Ms. C and Ms. R can be understood from an ethical standpoint, as well as preventive measures to avoid dual relationships.

Autonomy. Hai’s mental state is altered with the manifestations of delusions and hallucinations making him incapable of deciding for himself. His ability to practice his autonomy and refusal of medical treatment is deemed invalid due to his mental illness.

* It is not the job of the counselor to instill his/her values onto a client. The counselor shold try to remain as neutral as possible. Even if the husband feels the extra-marital relationship is enhancing

The code also extends to include “former clients, their romantic partners, or their family members”. The code simply states that the counselor cannot have professional contact with the client within 5 years before or after a relationship. The counselor must also “demonstrate forethought and document”, in writing, the possibilities of exploitation, or potential harm to the former client. If either of these elements is present, then the counselor avoids the interaction or relationship. The code is AACC: Code of Ethics (2004) is defined as “Marriage with Former Clients/Patients” and the stipulations are explained that this type of relationship is allowed with three provisions. (p 8) First, the counseling sessions had to have been terminated without the influence of a relationship or potential relationship, also within the proper guidelines of termination as defined in the AACC: code of ethics guidelines. Secondly, the client must understand unequivocally that any further counseling must be by someone other than the counselor-spouse. Thirdly, there must be no harm to the client or the client’s family as a result in the change of the relationship between the client and the counselor. Lastly, the counseling or helping relationship must be terminated at least two calendar years prior to marriage.

There are two relationships present; one is a counselor/client and the other is familial. Being a family member of a client is problematic since there’s a bond based on family, emotion and love, which are all things that a counselor/client relationship cannot have. You’ve created an overlap in relationships, which can be confusing to the client (Miller,

When there a conflict of interest between two members of the church who have come for counseling individually, and the counselor in question and/or the individuals concern cannot handle it, the client who has been with the center longer is maintain. There is the issue of cultural and religious values and beliefs which the counselors try as much as possible so that it should not affect the counseling process with their client. The two counselor, professionally and without discrimination, try to understand their client's individual cultural and religious background to understand and help achieve his/her goals. Some physical contact between the counselors and their client can be appropriate such as a brief hug when the long-term treatment has come to a close or if they feel as to offer comfort by placing their arm around their client when he/she has heard distressing news. If the client considers hugging or touching unacceptable because of his/her culture, or if the brief hug upsets our client because of his personal trauma history, the counselors usually respect the client beliefs and cultural orientation. One of the most challenging ethical issues we

Your post is very informative, and provides some interested points in the learning forum. When comparing both ACA and NAADAC, ACA group dual relationships in a forbidden non-counseling Roles and Responsibility, which makes it more clearly about the specific of behaviors in-person and electronic interactions and relationships (ACA, Code of Ethics, 2014). NAADAC also stated that counselors should not engage in dual relationships. One example of a dual relationship is engaging in a sexual relationship between a former or current client. The NAADAC, the guidelines do not include a specific guidance of the appropriateness of the relationship. It just enforced that under no circumstances the practitioners should engage in sexual behavior

Although I agree with you that late PN seems to be the better option for most cases based on the reading provided. I can’t help but seem skeptical. The problem is that most of the studies available on this topic do not include malnourished or underweight patients, which is classified by Grodner et al., (2016) as patients with BMI less than 18.5kg/m2. According to Cove & Pinsky (2011) there might be ethical issues in withholding treatments for malnourished patients. This is evident in the article by Kerrie, Bagshaw, & Brindley (2012), where in it is stated that 40% of patients in the ICU may be clinically malnourished, however, the research presented in the article did not include patients with low BMI even though 40% is a significant portion

John began his career practicing therapy at a local clinic, Martha was a young woman who was having a difficult time after her divorce she was depressed and decided to take therapy to help her overcome her pain, at just five sessions the therapies were interrupted because she must leave a trip. Two years later he met Martha, in a pub and a few days later, he feels strongly attracted by her former patient and perceives that his feeling is reciprocated. The two began a friendship that could become a probable relationship.

It is important for a counselor to first recognize the sexual attraction and be aware of these feelings. It is often the case that a counselor will ignore these feelings or dismiss them given the rather taboo nature of the counselor viewing their patient as sexually attractive (Gallagher, 2010). The lack of acknowledgement of these feelings or urges can increase the risk that they could manifest. Identifying them is the first step in ensuring that appropriate responses can be developed that will allow the counselor to maintain their ethical integrity. Once the attraction is brought into the open there are many ways in which it can be handled. However, if the attraction is not identified then this puts both the client and counselor at an increased risk for damages to one or both parties.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of marital and family therapy, it is imperative that therapists engage in the ethical, competent treatment of their clients. There are three aspects of marriage and family therapy research that makes it unique from other research fields: 1) multiple family members are involved; 2) it involves extremely sensitive information; and 3) it is performed in conjunction with therapy. According to Hohmann-Marriott (2001), because of these aspects as well as the researcher’s responsibility to conduct

In view of the continuum of multiple relationships, which ranges form boundary crossings that ‘may be harmful, helpful, or benign to the therapeutic process’ (Hermann, 2006, Moleski & Kiselica, 2005, Rosenbloom, 2003,) to boundary violations which ‘place clients, and the therapeutic process at a high risk’ ( Gutheil & Gabbard, 1993; Simon,1992), there seems to be something more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the non-sexual boundaries issue.