No psychotherapist wants a licensing board complaint or malpractice suit filed against them. While the overall risk of such events happening during the course of one’s career can be fairly low, their consequences may be quite significant for the psychotherapist. Even just the threat of such actions being taken can be stressful and may be […]
We are thrilled to announce an upcoming event that promises to be both enlightening and inspiring: Gab with the Greats This event is taking place on Monday, September 18th, 2023 from 10:00 - 11:30 (ET) via Zoom! Organized by the Early Career Psychology Domain within the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (Division 29 – APA), this event includes three distinguished psychotherapy researchers […]
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 […]