Recently we have heard a lot about the importance of therapist self-care. Jeffrey Barnett (2014) made a strong case that self-care is an ethical imperative based on the APA Ethics Code principles of beneficence and maleficence, as well as the guidelines related to competence, managing personal problems and conflicts, and avoiding harm. Self-care has […]
While all psychotherapists aspire to practice ethically, this can at times prove challenging. It may seem at first glance that practicing ethically means simply following the ethics code of one’s profession. While this is a good place to start, unfortunately this is not sufficient for ensuring ethical practice. There are several reasons for this: 1. […]
Our idea, which three of us came up with nearly simultaneously, was born out of good intentions. We noticed that our most vulnerable students were often reluctant to go to our university’s counseling center. Our idea was to bring psychotherapy services to the place where they felt most comfortable, the floor of the student union […]
1. Get out of the office, attend continuing education events and professional association conferences, and interact with colleagues. Don’t isolate yourself. Those who are more isolated professionally are at greater risk of poor decision-making and unethical practice over time (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2012). 2. Create a constellation of colleagues (Johnson, Barnett, Elman, Forrest, & Kaslow, […]
Recently in one of my courses, I lectured on ethics in forensic psychological assessment. A case example was provided involving a psychologist who provided testimony citing non-existent risk and risk assessment literature in a death penalty case, which later resulted in the case being overturned. One of my students inquired about the repercussions of psychologists […]
There may always be a place for traditional one-on-one, face-to-face psychotherapy directed toward ameliorating impaired mental health and life functioning but meanwhile the field of mental health service delivery is increasingly in the middle of paradigm changes. Forces driving this change include success of masters’ level trained mental health services providers entering the marketplace as […]
This year’s Bulletin theme focuses on the notion of turning points in psychotherapy training, research, and practice. Turning points can be considered an alteration in direction or course, a response to a need for advancement or change. Such turning points are not only present and significant in the field at large, but also exist within […]
Psychotherapists endeavor to be ethical in all their professional roles and interactions. Yet, being ethical is not always easy. While there are regularly occurring situations that are clearly ethical or unethical, many of situations we may face constitute ethical dilemmas. These are situations with no readily apparent, clearly appropriate or inappropriate course of action. These […]
Download a free accompanying Power Point presentation from Dr. Barnett here: Integrating_Religion_and_Spirituality.ppt It may be easy for psychotherapists to overlook or avoid addressing our clients’ spirituality and religion in psychotherapy. Such issues may not have been addressed in our training and thus may not be seen as relevant to our clinical work with clients. After all, we […]
Question by Dr. Overtree I have a client referral who is requesting, via an anonymous email message, to be screened by me as a possible patient anonymously. Although he states he is not suicidal or homicidal, nor does he meet any of the criteria for possible involuntary hospitalization (by his own report), he remains extremely […]