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CLASS:
Psychology as a profession

PASSWORD:
psychprof20192020
Why do we need Ethics
Codes?
 The evolution of guidelines for responsible
conduct – a lesson from the history
• Behavior modification started in the 1960s
• Early promoters promised dramatic changes in behavior that were quick and
easy
• The basic idea was: You don’t have to know why a behavior occurs; you need
to know only how to manipulate consequences.
• There was no notion of „causes” of behavior or that there may be a
connection between a likely cause and an effective treatment.
• The Sunland Miami Scandal
• The Sunland Training Center in Miami – 1972
• Many examples of abuse, despite the goal to create a „superb behavior modification
program” using routine „behavior shaping devices”
• The program „degenerated….into a bizarre, abusive, and ineffective system of
punishment”
• Element of the program that was left out was monitoring of individual resident
behavior.
• Instead the employees (poorly trained) were followed the guidelines:
• Emphasize „natural consequences of behavior”
• Devise your own immediate response to problem behavior
• Do not threaten – if you verbalize a consequence to a resident, follow through on every
contingency
• Total lack of monitoring by upper-level management
• Questionable expertise of the person responsible for the program
• Various governmental bodies instituted reforms including setting up both
statewide and local peer review committees for behavior modification
programming in facilities throughout Florida.
• 1980-1981 establishment of Florida Association for Behavior Analysis
• 1988 FABA membership adopted the FABA Code of Ethics, the first state
association to do so
 The Codes of Ethics
• American Psychological Association
• National Association of Social Workers
• American Counseling Association
• American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
• Behavior Analysts Certification Board
 Introduction to Professional Ethics
• Ethos – moral character
• Core ethical principles guide the practice of our profession.
 According to Koocher and Keith-Spiegel (2008), common themes are:
• Promoting the welfare of consumers
• Practicing within the scope of competence
• Doing no harm
• Protecting client’s confidentiality and privacy
• Acting ethically and responsibly
• Avoiding exploitation
• Upholding the integrity of the profession by striving for aspirational practice
 Introduction to Professional Ethics
• Codes of ethics are not cookbooks for responsible professional behavior,
they do not provide recipes for healthy ethical decision making (Welfel, 2010)
• Ethics codes offer unmistakably clear guidance for only a few problems.
 Core Ethical Principles

• 9 Ethical Principles for Psychologists (Koocher

and Keither-Spiegel, 1998)
• Do No Harm.
• Actually, Hippocrates said “As to diseases, make a habit of
two things, to help, or at least do no harm.”
• Respecting Autonomy.
• Promote the individual’s independence or self-
sufficiency.
 Core Ethical Principles

• Benefiting Others
• The primary role of behavior analysts is to benefit others.
• Who is the client?
• Being Just
• The “Golden Rule” or the Ethic of Reciprocity… do onto
others…
 Core Ethical Principles

• Being Truthful
• Well-trusted professionals attain their reputation based on
the trust in them by others.
• Accord Dignity
• Many clients are not able to represent themselves.
• Every client should be treated with dignity and respect.
• Acquisition of skills to voice or signal their needs
 Core Ethical Principles

• Treating others with caring and compassion

• Respect autonomy, work to benefit clients, devise programs
that accord dignity.
• Pursuit of Excellence
• Be aware of the latest research and use the most up-to-date
methods.
• Accepting Responsibility
• Diagnosis of the highest standard
• Proposed treatment is proper, justified and worthy of consideration
• Take responsibility if your treatments fail. Accept blame and make
corrections.
• „A code of ethics cannot guarantee ethical behavior. Moreover, a
code of ethics cannot resolve all ethical issues or disputes or
capture the richness and complexity involved in striving to make
responsible choices within a moral community. Rather, a code of
ethics sets forth values, ethical principles, and ethical standards to
which professionals aspire and by which their actions can be
judged.”
Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics
• „Although a Code of Ethics is essential to the
maintenance of ethical integrity and accountability, it
cannot be a substitute for the active process of ethical
decision making”
Canadian Counselling Association Code of Ethics
 Some limitations and problems
• Some issues cannot be handled solely by relaying on ethics codes.
• Some codes lack clarity and precision, which makes assessment of
an ethical dilemma unclear.
• Simply learning the ethics codes and practice guidelines will not
necessarily make for ethical practice.
• Conflicts sometimes emerge within ethics codes as well as among
various organizations’ codes.
• Practitioners who multiple professional organizations, are licensed
by their state and hold national certification may be responsible to
function within the framework of numerous codes of ethics, yet
these codes may not be uniform.
• Ethics codes tend to be reactive than proactive.
• A practitioner’s personal values may conflict with a specific
standard within an ethics code.
• Codes may conflict with institutional policies and practices.
• Ethics codes need to be understood within a cultural framework;
therefore they must be adapter to specific cultures.
• Codes may not align with state laws.
• Because of the diverse viewpoints within any professional
organization, not all members will agree with all elements of an
organization’s ethiccs code.
 Introduction to Professional Ethics

• Levels of Ethical Practice

• Mandatory ethics. Counselors act in compliance with
minimal standards. The basic “musts” and “must nots.”
• Aspirational ethics. The highest standard of thinking and
conduct professional counselors seek. Understanding the
spirit of the code.
 Introduction to Professional Ethics
• Moral principles to guide decision making
• Autonomy. The promotion of self-determination. Freedom of clients to
be self-governing. To decrease dependency and foster empowerment.
• Nonmaleficence. Avoiding doing harm. Refraining from actions that risk
hurting clients.
• Beneficence. Doing good for others and promoting the well being of
clients.
 Introduction to Professional Ethics

• Moral principles to guide decision making

• Justice. Being fair by giving equally to others and to treat others
justly. To provide appropriate services to all clients.
• Fidelity. To make realistic commitments and keep these promises.
Fulfilling one’s responsibilities of trust in a relationship.
• Veracity. Trustfulness. The obligation to deal honestly with clients.
 A risk management approach to ethics

• Prescribes ways to avoid ethical problems.

• The key to risk management involves scrupulously
upholding the tenets of relevant laws, policies,
professional standards, and ethics codes and taking as
many steps as possible to avoid ever being placed in a
precarious ethical or legal circumstance.
 Elements of good practice that reduce risks
include the following:
• Refraining from sexual contacts or other intense multiple-role
relationships with clients
• Avoiding role changes without documented consent of those involved
• Keeping careful notes and records, including billing and fee collections
• Well documenting diagnoses and client risk behaviors (e.g., suicidal or
homicidal ideation), including actions taken or clinical rationales for not
acting
• Regularly reviewing client treatment plans
• Documenting reasons for termination and the process followed
• Consulting with colleagues or appropriate others about difficult
clients (with confidentiality protection) and carefully documenting
such consultations
• Conducting therapy in a professional setting, ideally an office
• Practicing within one’s sphere of competence
• Most ethical violations fit into three broad, although not
always mutually exclusive, categories
• Competence issues:
• lacking sufficient knowledge about, an understanding of, or
commitment to ethical principles and standards; inadequate
mastery of skills offered to consumers; emotional instability or
other vulnerability that interferes with decisions or performance
Recently licensed Matt Smith, L.M.F.T., accepted the offer of his
brother-in-law and a marketing specialist, to promote his
fledgling practice. An ostentatious advertisement in the local
paper was highly misleading regarding Smith’s professional
experience. For example, “interned at University Hospital”
referred to a summer of volunteer work that Smith performed as
a high school senior. Another counselor in the agency pointed
out how Smith himself retained responsibility for such
statements and was lax in allowing his advertising agent to run
loose around the truth. Matt Smith quickly cancelled the ad.
A clinic supervisor recognized that many clients
seemed to acquire misdiagnoses or inappropriate
treatment plans based on the reports of Remi
Partway, Ph.D. When the supervisor asked Dr.
Partway to detail her background, Partway admitted
she had virtually no training or experience in these
specific assessments but believed she was “picking
up speed” as she went along.
Colleagues reported Mordred Gloom, Psy.D., to the clinic
manager for failing to keep many appointments without
calling to cancel them. A few clients quit coming,
complaining to the receptionist that their therapist did
not even care about them enough to show up. It was soon
discovered that Gloom had become so depressed over the
recent breakup with his wife that he could not always pull
himself out of bed in the morning.
As a sufferer of Crohn’s disease, Sally Brown, M.S.W., had
abdominal pain and diarrhea that would frequently cause
her to excuse herself in the middle of therapy sessions.
One client claimed that he resented paying for partial ses-
sions, some of which lasted only 20 minutes, and pressed
ethics charges.
• Lack of or lapses in maintaining self-awareness:
• engaging in rationalizations to justify decisions and behavior;
acting according biases in service to oneself; and other cognitive
mechanisms that cloud sound ethical decision making and
action
 At the close of their third session, Joy Jonhnson, Ph.D.,
offered to take Bob, her car-obsessed client, for a spin in
her new sports car. She reasoned a little outing just this
one time would strengthen the fledgling therapeutic alli-
ance. The brief experience confused Bob, who then asked
if they could drive to the beach after the next session.
When Dr. Johnson pulled back, Bob terminated therapy
and accused Dr. Johnson of only wanting his money to
pay for her expensive new car.
Robert Telp, Ph.D., wanted to assist his financially shaky
client, who had both a troubled marriage and
characteristics of an antisocial personality disorder. He
decided not to disclose the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013) Axis II diagnosis of a personality
disorder or the “V code” of marital problems because the
client’s insurance carrier frequently declined to pay for
treatment of these conditions.
• Insensitivity:
• revealing patterns of indifference or disrespect; unreliability; lack of
empathy and paying insufficient attention to the moment or to an issue
 Justin Tyme, D.S.W., was usually late for therapy
sessions. When a single mother of four young
children complained how she did not like waiting
for up to an hour because it threw off her schedule,
he responded, “You don’t have a job, so what
difference does it make?
Richard Greenspace, L.M.F.T., prided himself
on recycling anything before disposing of it.
Mr. Greenspace was embarassed when a client
showed him the scratch paper he left in the
wait-ing room for children to draw on. It had
confidential client treatment notes on the back.
 Janet Potter, Ph.D., agreed to support her clinical
supervisee, Paul Hunter, in his quest for employment.
However, Mr. Hunter learned that Dr. Potter failed to
return prospective employers’ calls, and the promised
letters of recommendation were never written. When
Hunter expressed disappointment to Dr. Potter, she
apologized, explaining how busy she was and how she
could not even handle her own priorities. In the
meantime, the prospective employers offered the
positions to others.
 A student with autism has been served in a 1:1 staff:student ratio for many
years. Initially, this level of service was provided because the student engaged
in severe challenging behaviors. The psychologist working with the student has
data to support reducing the staff:student ratio. The school principal has
indicated that he does not want the ratio reduced, because he wants to retain
the extra staff member. He has suggested that data on the student’s progress
be downplayed, and that no recommendations to change the instructional ratio
or supporting data should be shared. The psychologist believes that continuing
1:1 instruction could be harmful to the student. She is also uncomfortable
about “fudging” information, including the facts that the ratio has already
been changed and the extra staff person re-allocated. What should the
psychologist do?