Ethics in Psychology - Case Study Example

Ethics in Psychology Introduction Ethics is described as one of the numerous branches of philosophy that is concerned with values pertaining to human actions right or wrong and the good and evil motives. In essence, ethics in psychology is meant to ensure that good morals are practiced by psychologists who are supposed to adhere to ethical principles that prevent them from deceiving their clients. Case Study It is evident that in the Case Study, the ethical principles have not been adhered to as would be expected Scenario 1 Having been a community counseling student at the College Counseling Center at the local university, James admits one of his challenges as having limitation diversity in his relationships. However, he is quick to state that this is not an important issue because he intends to open up a private practice in his home town immediately after graduation. The ethical dilemma is that James is more concerned with the notion of being a known person in the home town rather than making more effort in creating diversity in his relationships with potential clients. Moreover, he is an opportunist as seen in his expectation that his father would assist him get some referrals since he currently works with a town newspaper and as such would be capable of placing an ad for him as soon as he was soon as he was back home. Scenario 2 James admits that he does not have any clinical experience and as such is dependent on his ex-girlfriend who he argues that he intends to take her as the clinical supervisor. Moreover, what is more disappointing is he intends to spend the meeting time between him and his ex-girlfriend catching up on their past instead of attending to professional matters. At the same time, James is hopeful that his ex-girlfriend will continue to supervise him before he receives his license. In light of this, the ethical dilemma here is that he is operating a private practice without a license with only an ‘assumed’ supervision once a week. He seems to be less concerned about professional ethics especially with regard to his obligations to his patients. For instance, even though he is nine months from graduation, he intends to use his supervisor’s license to start practicing. Not only has he not yet graduated which means that he is still under instruction, he has also not been licensed to work and intends to use his ex-girlfriend’s credentials to pass as a licensed practitioner. This is very unethical and unprofessional and should not be something that a person intending to become a psychiatrist should be doing (Madson, 2011). Scenario 3 As soon as James receives his first referral from his supervisor, he is seen to have negligence in writing down the details for the client arguing that he would be late for some function. Additionally, the other two sessions for the client are surrounded by lack of professionalism from James which is an ethical issue. He is also tempted to give the wrong prescription to the client in the second session without consulting his supervisor. This is very unethical as it not only compromises the whole process of helping the patient to regain her health, but also may make the patient to lose faith in the process if the patient identifies that the doctor is not serious with the process. Acting in this manner may make the patient to perceive the process as a joke and complicates the ability of the patient to benefit from the process. Psychiatry is a process that requires the patient to participate in her own treatment process by doing as told and carrying some activities that the doctor prescribes. In this regard, showing seriousness and professionalism is a part of the process as it makes the patient to also appreciate the seriousness and essence of the process. Any sign of lack of professionalism from the practitioner is unethical as it compromises the patient’s confidence and thereby compromising her ability to benefit from the system. It is therefore not ethical for James to behave in the way he behaved with regard to filing the paper work for Lisa. Scenario 4 In his second session with the patient, the patient admitted that she was involved in the murder (or manslaughter) of another human being, something that she has never admit to anyone else before. This is one of the most challenging ethical dilemmas that psychiatrists can face in their practice. A practitioner is supposed to maintain total doctor-patient confidentiality (Weistein, 2012). All practitioners are bound by a code of conduct to maintain this kind of doctor-patient confidentiality not only as way to create trust from the patient, but as a way to protect the patient’s privacy. However, in this kind of scenario, there are other issues that come up which may warrant a practitioner to decide to break this commitment. For instance, should James report the client to police for murder? After all, she has just confessed to killing a person. It is up to the practitioner, in this case James, to make a choice that will be beneficial to the patient whatever the outcome. Since some ethical dilemmas like these are not easy to deal with, there are several of ethical dilemma solving techniques that a professional may use. One such technique is the utilitarian theory that advocates for a person in such as dilemma to make the decision that will lead to the most benefit, or that will benefit the most people. James may decide to use this and decide that reporting his patient to the police will have minimal benefit as compared to keeping this information private as required by the doctor-patient confidentiality rule. This way, he will be able to help the client to recover from her depression. However, he can also decide to use other approaches to deal with this ethical dilemma. For instance, if he chooses to report the patient to the police, which is also a possible alternative, it will mean that the process of helping the patient to recover will become even more complicated. It will be important for James to know that his main role is to help the patient to recover from her disorder. The issue of the patient’s criminality is second to the patient’s wellbeing. James may actually decide that reporting the case to the police may even improve the patient’s road to recovery. For instance, if after reporting the case to the police the patient is give a lenient sentencing considering the circumstances that led to her commit the crime and also considering that she was a junior when she committed the crime, it would lead to the patient not having to suffer too much from this action. At the same time, James can also decide to report the patient just to make sure that he is not aiding, or hiding such a heinous crime, but still help in convincing the court that the patient needs to be given therapy rather than be sentenced for murder, which would complicate her problem even more. In any case, there may be a high chance that her depression is linked to this event because intensive guilt can lead to depression. If the patient has been holding intense guilt, as she has explained to James that she has never confessed to anyone, this may be an indication that her depression may be arising from the guilt. Whichever action that James takes in this case, it must be tied to his professional responsibility to help the patient rather than complicating her problems even further. References Madison, P. (2011). Ethics in Psychiatry Practice: Navigating the Ethical Dilamas in Modern Practice. Journal of Modern Pratice, 9,(4), 69-78. Weistein, P. (2012). doctor-patient confidentiality: Understanding When a Breach is Justified. Journal of Phycologu and Mental Health Studies, 1,(6), 45-57. Read More