Ethics Of Infidelity

Ethical dilemmas may arise during the course of a human service professional’s time with the client. The difficulty in finding a resolution to an ethical dilemma depends on the human service professional’s ethical practice and personal belief system. I believe that I would have little difficulty avoiding a dual relationship. My personal belief system tells me that a dual relationship creates a conflict of interest between the human service professional and the client. It leaves the door open for exploitation between both parties. It is a very fine line to walk when trying to gain the trust of the client. However, the main objective is to respect the integrity of the client and avoid any activities that could open the door to an intimate relationship that is unprofessional. I had an experience where the client’s sister was interested in me and wanted to know me in a way that was unprofessional. Ethically, I knew it was wrong and because of my personal belief I chose not to entertain her. Then, I notified my supervisor. An ethical dilemma that would be difficult for me to handle would be when a spouse shares information in confidentiality during marriage counseling, but does not want the other spouse to know. If I am counseling a husband and wife,

People from all walks of life face many ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas have consequences. Our worldview determines how we deal with these dilemmas, and guides us to the right decisions. In this essay, I will examine an ethical issues through my Christian worldview. I will also present other viewpoints, and compare them to mine.

Trust is an essential factor in the helping process. Without it, clients will not feel free to share their most intimate thoughts and feelings. They will not be completely honest or forthcoming in conversations which will hinder the professional’s ability to truly help the client. For this reason, the promise of confidentiality becomes critical to the process. It is the “secret keeping duty” all helping professionals have an ethical obligation to observe (Younggren & Harris, p.589). It protects the client’s right to privacy and fosters an atmosphere in which one feels safe, facilitating trust and allowing one to feel comfortable enough to share their inner most feelings and thoughts. Most helping professionals agree that

In the relationship between counsellor and client the need for confidentiality is vital as it is not only the bases that the relationship is built on and it is a legal obligation.

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.

This paper is a response to a video discussing the issues of confidentiality, privilege, reporting, and duty to warn. This paper looks at these issues and their explanations in the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics as well as the Georgia State Board of Professional Counselor’s ethical guidelines and provides a commentary on the laws. It was found that these issues are not always black and white, but there is some debate on these issues. Confidentiality is both an ethical and a legal responsibility yet there are often times when the ethical demands clash with the legal demands. This paper explores some of those crashes and explains what I have learned from the video and the professional and stage guidelines concerning confidentiality and its implications and how I will apply what I have learned into future practice.

Remley and Herlihy (2016) defines confidentiality as an ethical concept which refers to the counselor 's obligation to respect the client 's privacy and in session discussion will be protected from disclosure without their consent (p.108). The receptionist never disclosed what was being discussed in wife A session; however, her inadvertent breach of confidentiality occurred the moment she divulged the fact that wife A is a patient at a mental health facility. An important premise to understanding the ethical principle of confidentiality is base that a counselor respects the client 's right to privacy (Remley & Herlihy, 2016; Quigley, 2007). Premise one states the "counselor honor the rights of clients to decide who knows what information about them and in what circumstances" (p.110).

Certain modalities of therapeutic treatments are linked to ethical dilemmas as well; these modalities affect treatment outcomes as well. Dyadic therapists may misuse the intimate nature of the sessions by pushing their values on the client or clients, or by allowing therapy to extend beyond its efficiency. Confidentiality can be broken much easier with the group setting; therapists need to be highly guarded on this topic. (Amato, 2000)

This paper is being submitted to Steven Mendoza, Ph.D., MSCP in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Law and Ethics, PSY627, on January 24, 2015.

A.2.a. Confidentiality, A.4.a. Dual Relationships: While working on Internship in Counseling I (SC5599115SUOL), I have encountered several instances in which, boundaries have to be established in order to work with relatives. For instance, a sixth grade male, whom happens to be a distant cousin, but is aware that we are indeed related, sought me out for advice as to how to better his relationship with his mother (A.4.a. Dual Relationships). Because I knew the family offhand, I was aware of the tumultuous relationship that the child and his mother shared. However, as a professional, I could not allow my previous knowledge of his relationship with his mother cloud my judgement on how to advise the young man. I set boundaries within the first few moments of the session that dealt with the explanation of confidentiality and that his feelings and opinions were in a judgement free safe zone (A.2.a. Confidentiality).

The guidelines also assert to maintain boundaries, beware my own values, be prepared to lose a friendship, remain mindful of confidentiality, and to recognize when treatment should be terminated (Gottlieb, 1993). However, concerning the dual relationship at hand, these guidelines give me ideas to ponder on when dealing with a close acquaintance.

Feinauer suggested several implications for practice from this study. She proposed that therapists who work with couples experiencing difficulty with intimacy of both sexual and emotional nature should consider sexual abuse history of the partners involved because without handling the sexual abuse related issues , the intervention of therapy will not be very effective. She stated that if the CSA survivor continued to believe and act out the idea that they have to perform sexually in order to get love, acceptance, security, then they cannot participate in sexually intimate relationships.

Both the ACA (2005) and AACC (2004) code of ethics require the counselor to maintain client confidentiality to the fullest extent. Working in the counseling field, trust is a rock in the foundational of a helping relationship and confidentially plays a large role in the client counselor relationship. Both codes share similarities regarding their stance on confidentiality. When counseling others, a counselor is to inform their clients about their commitment to confidentiality as well as their limits before

A counselor’s primary goal is to have integrity, while also having the client’s well-being as a priority. While competency is the most important factor in professional counseling, a level of trust needs to be met between the client and the counselor. When a client has full confidence that the counselor will maintain confidentiality, the counselor’s integrity has been established and the client can being to open up more to the counselor, establishing better tools for increasing mental health (Sanders, et. al., 2013, p. 263). Sexual identity therapy is also a potential means of.

The research involving the use of assessments for this theory is scarce. However, in a study of contextual therapy theory’s relational ethics in couple’s therapy, Gangamma et al. (2012) utilized two assessments to gain a greater knowledge of each partner’s perspective within the relationship. They utilized the Relational Ethics Scale (RES) and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS). The RES was used to measure each partner’s perception of relational ethics in their current relationship, which included aspects of trust, loyalty, and entitlement in both vertical and horizontal relationships (Gangamma et al., 2012). Vertical relationships for this scale measured each individual's perceptual relationship with their family-of-origin while horizontal relationships measured each individual’s perceptual relationship with their partner (Gangamma et al., 2012). Some questions on this scale included items such as, “I could trust my family to seek my best interests,” and “I do not trust this individual to look out for my best interests.” Higher scores on this measure indicated a perception of fairness within their current relationship (Gangamma et al.,