Articles Tagged "informed consent"

Part One: Foundational Issues The informed consent process is an essential component of ethical, legal, and clinically effective practice by psychotherapists. Yet, how we engage in this process can have significant implications for the unfolding professional relationship and for the assessment, treatment, or other professional services provided. This is the first of four consecutive articles […]

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 […]

The importance of considering individual differences and diversity in our clinical work has rightly received increased attention in recent years. The relevance of individual differences and diversity to all aspects of the professional services psychologists provide is clearly articulated in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code, APA, 2010) in Principle […]

Termination is the term typically used when referring to the ending of the psychotherapy relationship. It may occur as an anticipated and well-articulated treatment plan that indicates the next phase of the psychotherapy process or it may occur precipitously or by surprise. Abandonment is a term that implies that the psychotherapist either ended the psychotherapy […]

Informed consent is an essential component of every psychotherapy relationship. When conducted effectively it lays the foundation for the psychotherapy relationship and process to come. The informed consent process ensures that clients possess the information necessary to make an informed decision about participation in the services being offered. As Handelsman (2001) articulates, we must provide […]

It is a given that confidentiality is essential in the psychotherapy process. Clients share their secrets, embarrassing information, fears, and the like, specifically for the purpose of receiving needed assistance to overcome their stated difficulties. Without the promise of confidentiality, many individuals might not be able to establish the trusting relationship needed for psychotherapy to […]

Informed consent lays the foundation for the psychotherapy relationship and treatment to come in respecting the client’s legal rights and offering her or him the opportunity to make an informed decision about participating in the treatment to be offered. Barnett, Wise, Johnson-Greene, & Bucky (2007) have highlighted the potential benefits of an appropriately implemented informed […]

It may be easy to view informed consent as one of those obligations all psychotherapists must meet in order to stay out of trouble. After all, no one wants an ethics complaint, licensure board complaint, or malpractice suit. And, if we ever do become the subject of any of these we will definitely want to […]

Download a free accompanying PowerPoint presentation from Dr. Barnett here. Clinical supervision is an essential aspect of the training of every psychotherapist (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014). It supplements and significantly adds to the academic education that those in training receive. Clinical supervision received during one’s training can lay the foundation for the neophyte psychotherapist’s clinical […]

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 […]