Читать книгу Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling - Kenneth S. Pope - Страница 18

Even the simplest ethical concept, standard, or guideline can fool us. We hear it in class. We read it in the code. We understand it. We can explain it in a test, give a lecture on it, or explain it to a jury. We know the concept, standard, or guideline, but it fools us when it shows up unexpected in the messiness of real life. It comes dressed in different clothes—and sometimes camouflage—and we don’t recognize it.

Therapy offers countless challenges to recognizing how a specific ethical concept, standard, or guideline might be helpful or vital. One reason is that concepts, standards, and guidelines tend to be abstract, general, and sometimes ambiguous. Another reason is that psychotherapy can be such a complex set of interactions between unique people. Yet another is that psychotherapy can serve as the intense focus of need, hope, risk, and expectation. Lives can be at stake.

In the midst of this work, as it actually happens in real life, it can be hard to recognize those moments when we need to consider an abstract ethical concept, standard, or guideline.

This chapter provides examples of those moments as they happen in the messy textures of real life. None is based on a specific case (and none of the people are based on an actual clinician or patient), but each represents the kinds of challenges that therapists and counselors face in their day-to-day practice.

In each of the following fictional scenarios, the clinicians were trying to do their best. Readers may disagree over whether each clinician met the highest or even minimal ethical standards, and such disagreements can form the focus of classroom discussions, case conference presentations, or supervision consultation. In at least one or two instances, you may conclude that what the clinician did was perfectly reasonable and perhaps even showed courage and profound ethical awareness. In some cases, you may feel that significant relevant information is missing. But in each instance, the professional’s actions (or failures to act) become the basis of one or more formal complaints.

As you read each scenario, consider the situation from the point of view of each person mentioned as well as a member of an ethics committee, licensing board, or jury hearing the complaint.