Name: Elizabeth Hurtado
Class/section: Psychology 321-02
Debate 2- Ethical Dilemmas in clinical practice
Directions: For each ethical dilemma (see separate document) briefly state whether you
believe the psychologists’ behavior is ethical. In making your decision you must complete
the textbook reading and consult the APA code of Ethics (selected reading). You will then
state which parts of the code apply in the given scenario and your interpretation of the
code. Make a judgment about whether the psychologist’s behavior is ethical (based on
code) and explain why or why not.
APA Standards to consider (see link):
1. Competence
2. Human relations
3. Privacy and confidentiality
4. Education and training
5. Therapy
Use the following format for all 4 ethical dilemmas:
I. Ethical dilemma 1: I do not think this situation is ethical.
a. (4.01) Maintaining Confidentiality. It is said in this code that “Psychologists
have a primary obligation and take reasonable precautions to protect
confidential information”. This supports my position because it is possible
that at the wedding someone could ask the therapist how they knew the
patient who is getting married. This could immediately spark the
conversation that the client was getting therapy. It is also possible that the
therapist might accidentally share information that was meant to be private.
b. (3.04) Avoiding Harm. This supports my position because the therapist
should be avoiding harm to their soon to be former client. When the client
sees their therapist at the wedding, it might trigger the feelings they had in
therapy and could possibly make them feel uncomfortable.
c. (2.03) Maintaining Competence. If a therapist is going to their client’s
wedding they are not maintaining competence because they are not putting
up the boundaries necessary to remain professional with their client. In
order to have the necessary knowledge and skills to do something
successfully (their job), the therapist needs to understand that they should
not be taking part in the personal life of their client.
II.
Ethical dilemma 2: I think this situation is ethical.
a. (3.05) Multiple Relationships. It is appropriate that the child psychologist
referred the child to another psychologist since he felt a mutual attraction
with the child’s mother. If the psychologist had kept seeing the patient, it
would lead to problems of multiple relationships because the psychologist
would be seeing a patient while possibly having a close type of relationship
III.
IV.
with someone “associated or related to” the patient (Pomerantz, 2011). It is
important for the psychologist not to get involved with anyone related to the
patient because it could alter the way he deals with the patient.
b. (10.10) Terminating Therapy. The psychologist terminated therapy with
their patient and referred them to someone else because they wanted to
avoid a dual relationship from happening. This was the right thing to do
because it is possible that he could develop more feelings with the patient’s
mother and this could cause harm to the patient. According to the code, they
terminated therapy because it was not benefiting the patient. It is also likely
that therapy from the psychologist could cause more harm than good.
c. (3.04) Avoiding Harm. It is ethical that the psychologist referred his patient
to someone else because he did not want to cause harm to the professional
relationship he needed to keep with his patient. Even though he believed his
work with his patient was positive, it could easily turn for the worst if he
ended up getting in a relationship with the patient’s mother. What is most
important in this situation is that the psychologist needed to put his patient
first and remain professional which is what he did.
Ethical dilemma 3: I do not think this situation is ethical.
a. (3.05) Multiple Relationships. This is not ethical because if the psychologist
already knows these people from her church it will affect her objectivity. It
can also impair the psychologist’s effectiveness in doing her job because she
already knows these people. By knowing them beforehand it might be hard
to go into the setting of having to be professional with them. It could also
make the psychologist have biases about these people in her community
which could also affect the treatment plan for the patients.
b. (3.04) Avoiding Harm. I chose this code because the psychologist could cause
the patients harm if they stepped over their boundaries of being a therapist.
The therapist might get too comfortable with the patient which could lead to
the patient being uncomfortable sharing personal thoughts with the
therapist. It is important to only have a psychologist-therapist relationship.
c. (4.01) Maintaining Confidentiality. If the psychologist is seeing multiple
people from her church, it is possible that she might get too comfortable with
her patients and share information from other patients that she is seeing. It is
important for her to remain professional and to also not let the patients get
too comfortable with the psychologist just because they know her outside of
therapy.
Ethical dilemma 4: I do not think this situation is ethical.
a. (4.01) Maintaining confidentiality. Even though it is good that the
psychologist wanted to keep his client’s action confidential from her foster
parents, there can still be certain dilemmas where it may be in the client’s
best interest to let their parents know what is going on in their lives. As
Pomerantz discusses, psychologists usually make an arrangement with a
minor’s parents to be sure the parents won’t be informed of what the client
discloses during sessions. There is an exception though. The exception is
when there is a condition where “the children might be harmed by the
behavior of others or themselves” (Pomerantz, 2011) it may then be
appropriate to let the parents know what is going on. In my opinion, the
client is at such a young age and she just went through something that is life
changing. It could definitely cause psychological damage and the foster
parents should be aware of it.
b. (3.04) Avoiding Harm. I think that by not telling the foster parents, this may
cause the relationship between the client and her parents to have some
problems. The parents will be unaware of what the patient is going through
which will cause harm to the patient. She may feel alone. Also, if the parents
find out later what is happening and find out the therapist knew, this can
cause harm to the patient because the parents might not let the girl see the
therapist anymore. There has to be trust with the patient as well as with the
parents.
c. (4.02) Discussing the Limits of Confidentiality. When the client is a child, it is
hard to know how much the parents can know. It depends on the discussion
they have with the therapist. In lecture it was said that “parent has consent
for the child”. In this situation I think it is important for the parents to be
aware of what the girl did because it is in fact a controversial issue that
should be discussed with the parents even after it has happened.
Certify below that you completed at least 2 of the 3 article readings and the textbook
readings, and that this is original work
I, _______________________ (sign name here) certify that I fully read the textbook and reviewed
the APA ethics code, and that all work is my own.