Ethical Dilemmas in Psychotherapy

This assignment analyzes two ethical dilemmas faced by psychotherapists, Stephen and Joanna. Stephen abandons his client due to personal reasons, highlighting the responsibility therapists hold towards their clients. Joanna encounters her client at a party while under the influence, raising questions about professional boundaries. The analysis emphasizes the crucial role of ethics in maintaining trust and providing effective psychological services.

Running head: ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBLITY
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Executive Summary:
The aim of this report is to discuss about the ethics and responsibility issues in
psychotherapy. There have been two situations which have been discussed and the learning ideas
to be understood from this context have been discussed with respect to ethics and professional
responsibility. The discussion also explains the issues or lessons understood from the two
situations.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Ethics and professional responsibility characteristics:....................................................................3
Ethics involved in the career of Stephen:........................................................................................4
Way in which the supervisor could help Stephen:...........................................................................5
Ethics involved in the career of Joanna:..........................................................................................6
Way in which supervisor could help Joanna:..................................................................................7
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9

3ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Introduction:
Psychologists often work with individuals who are vulnerable in certain situations. In
order to be a proper medical health person, the psychological services need to clearly know the
ethical issues that psychologists face. In case such services are to be provided the psychologist is
obligated to remain informed about the present ethical standards or issues. In case a particular
individual is a consumer of services of psychological nature the person should always remain
informed about his or her rights. There are certain problems which individuals face in their lives.
In order to deal with personality problems a person needs to take professional help in order to
properly deal with such issues.
Ethics and professional responsibility characteristics:
There are certain facts which need to be maintained in the profession of psychotherapy.
The characteristics that need to be maintained in the profession of psychotherapy are those of
competence, informed consent, confidentiality, and relationships with individuals who are
vulnerable. There must also be a concern overall for practices of ethical nature.
Competence need to be established in the professional practice. It is the right of
customers to expect their practitioners to be competent. The services which are promised need to
be provided properly. A practitioner can be competent if he or she has received proper training,
supervised practice and experience. It is required that the practitioner also needs to keep his or
her skills up to date (Bond, 2015). The practitioner should also discuss his or her skills with
those individuals who consume their services.

4ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Confidentiality is one of the most aspects that need to be maintained by the
psychologists. There should be proper amount of secrecy that needs to be maintained about the
people who are visiting the psychologists and the supervisors need to be aware about who are
using the information which have been divulged to them (Goodwin, 2016).
Informed consent needs to be maintained at all times. The people who come to the
therapists need to be aware of what services are being provided to them. The details regarding
the services being offered need to be maintained at all times. The services can be refused by the
people coming to take the service at all times (Hays, 2016).
There are several instances in which the individuals who come to the therapists for their
therapy are weaker than them. This is due to their age, intellectual ability, emotional insecurities,
legal status as well as other attributes. In the general sense the therapists should act in a way
which best help the individuals A probable relationship of a romantic nature between a therapist
and client is a way in which such an ethical principle might be violated and is the commonest
reasons for lawsuits against the psychologists (Pope & Vasquez, 2016).
There should also be a general concern for the ethical practice. Every individual needs to
be aware of the role of ethical guidelines in the direction of the application of psychology. The
specific reasons in psychology will elaborate the view of the ethical behavioural explanation
whenever applicable. There needs to be a certain amount of courage to report unethical
behaviour (Proctor, 2014).
Ethics involved in the career of Stephen:
According to the case study provided, Stephen was an individual who was suffering from
loneliness. By nature he was a loner and spend majority of his time within himself. After getting

5ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
his degree he started practising psychotherapy. The client who was send to Stephen had a violent
and controlling personality. There was a record of controlling and abusive personality problems
in the client. The client became too much for Stephen to handle but nevertheless he continued
with the sessions. The suggestions given by the supervisor where also not accepted by Stephen.
After a few days Stephen started to avoid his clients and stopped going to work. He started
complaining and did not want to tackle the situations.
The first problem that was faced in this situation was that of competence. The client was
not provided with suitable services as Stephen was not competent enough to deal with the
problems of his client. It was his responsibility to make his client aware of his incompetence
after the realisation that he is not suitable enough for the post of therapist. He should also inform
his supervisor of the problems which he is facing with his client and abide by his supervisors
decisions (Barnett & Molzon, 2014).
The most significant issue in this scenario was the lack of respect of the ethical practice.
This is due to the reason that Stephen did not have any sort of concern towards his behaviour
towards his client and he also did not have any respect towards his profession. He needed to
understand the responsibilities of a therapist before tackling serious cases.
There was an overall incapability in tackling a client who is mentally unstable. The
person was suffering from mental instability and hence needed a deep level of care which he did
not receive. It was also the duty of Stephen as his therapist that his client be appointed with
another therapist to solve his issues which is did not do (Welfel, 2015).

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Way in which the supervisor could help Stephen:
It was the duty of the supervisor to check whether Stephen was performing his duties
properly. In case the supervisor felt that Stephen was not fulfilling his duties he needed to
impose his viewpoint on Stephen. He should not have agreed when Stephen did not want to
appoint another therapist to his client when the supervisor suggested that someone else be
appointed. The way in which the supervisor could ensure that Stephen performed his duties
effectively was to arrange a possible meeting with the client and the supervisor’s senior in order
to hear both sides of the story and also to ensure that problems of both Stephen and his client
were cleared. This would allow Stephen to resume his duties and give him the required amount
of confidence in order to renew his responsibilities (BPS. (2018).
Ethics involved in the career of Joanna:
According to the case study provided, Joanna was an extremely social and adventurous
person. She had a very unpredictable lifestyle but after taking up psychology she became more
mature, responsible and accountable for her actions. Joanna had an intelligent client who was
suffering from borderline personality disorder. After five months of attending therapy sessions
with Joanna when he declared that he had fallen in love with her, Joanna behaved like a true
professional and to make it clear that she was only his therapist and under proper supervision,
she was able to make relevant amount of progress therapeutically. In this connection, it can be
said that Joanna complied with the ethics of the psychotherapy field and displayed immense
amount of competence, respect for the practice and respect towards her client and her own self as
a whole.

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In the party when Joanna failed to guess the person who got close to her as her client she
was quite shocked and tried to tell her supervisor what had happened. Despite being ashamed of
what happened, she tried to explain the matter to her supervisor and narrated the whole story.
This was an action in the positive direction and she displayed the true characteristics of a good
therapist. The responsibility was displayed by Joanna in the way she tried to maintain a degree of
formality in her dealings with her client.
Way in which supervisor could help Joanna:
The supervisor of Joanna could try to make it clear to her that it was not required for her
to panic. This was due to the reason that she had tried her level best to maintain a safe distance
from her client at all times. It could also have been explained by the supervisor that sometimes
certain mistakes happen in the lives of people and therapists are no different. The situation that
happened in the party was unfortunate but there was no need to dwell on the negatives and the
only way was to move ahead. The supervisor needed to arrange a meeting between Joanna and
her client so that the awkwardness and the minor mishap which led to such an embarrassing
situation could be clarified. In case a meeting would be arranged it would be possible for the
client to understand Joanna’s disinterest and the cordiality and strictly professional nature of
their relationship. In case the meeting would take place in the presence of the supervisor it would
be even better (2018).
Discussion:
It is clear from both the situations that the ethics involved are different. In the scenario
involving Stephen it is clear that he did not abide by the basic responsibilities of a proper
therapist. He did not show any strength of character. He had dealt with his own issues of

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loneliness earlier and hence it was advisable for him to apply his learning experiences in the
issues faced by his clients (Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. ,2018). At a time when
Stephen found that his client was misbehaving and behaving in an aggressive manner, he needed
to report the situation immediately to his supervisor. In absconding from his responsibilities he
was being unjust to his client as well as towards the ethics of psychotherapy. Stephen did not
even communicate properly with his client informing him of the reason for his absence. Such a
sort of behaviour on the part of therapists can be referred to as the interruption of the
psychological services. The behaviour of Stephen was extremely unprofessional and could
account for people not wishing to come to him for psychological and therapeutic service
(Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. (2018).
In case of Joanna, the situation at the party where she failed to recognize her client pin
pointedly at first could amount to a little bit of negligence on her part in failing to recognize her
client. It was advisable for her to keep to her own limits while deciding to drink in the party in
order to remain in her oproper senses to prevent what actually happened in the party (Articles,
Research, & Resources in Psychology. (2018).
Conclusion:
Ethics is a very important characteristic to be maintained in life and specifically in the job
scenario of every individual. In case of therapy and specifically in case of psychotherapy, a
certain amount of ethical responsibilities to be maintained at all times. It is only if ethics are
followed in every sphere of life that people will be more and more dependable and trustworthy.
In case of Stephen he could not maintain the policies or the responsibilities of a therapist and
hence the situation became negative for him as well. On the other hand in case of Joanna, she

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displayed a true amount of responsibility and professionalism at all times. To her, the
responsibility and job of a therapist was extremely important.

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References:
(2018). Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://mfss.gov.mt/en/The-Ministry/Pages/MPPB.aspx
Articles, Research, & Resources in Psychology. (2018). Kspope.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018,
from http://kspope.com/
Barnett, J. E., & Molzon, C. H. (2014). Clinical supervision of psychotherapy: Essential ethics
issues for supervisors and supervisees. Journal of clinical psychology, 70(11), 1051-
1061.
Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.
BPS. (2018). Bps.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2018, from http://www.bps.org.uk/
Goodwin, C. J. (2016). Research in psychology methods and design. John Wiley & Sons.
Hays, P. A. (2016). Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and
therapy.
Ivey, G. (2014). The ethics of mandatory personal psychotherapy for trainee
psychotherapists. Ethics & Behavior, 24(2), 91-108.
Pope, K. S., & Vasquez, M. J. (2016). Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling: A practical
guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Proctor, G. M. (2014). Values and ethics in counselling and psychotherapy. Sage.
Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. (2018). Psychology.org. Retrieved 11 January 2018,
from http://www.psychology.org/links/.../Ethical_Issues/

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Welfel, E. R. (2015). Ethics in counseling & psychotherapy. Cengage Learning.