Counselors, most certainly, are frequently faced with ethical dilemmas of many different natures. Fortunately there are ethical codes to go by when addressing such conflicts. These codes have been adopted, in part, to remove the conflict of human nature when deciding how to handle these dilemmas. Ethical dilemma number 1 asks what actions would be appropriate in the following scenario:
You have just learned that a female client has been seeing another therapist. She has sought you out because she feels you may be able to help her with her feelings toward her male therapist with whom she is both sexually and emotionally involved. How do you proceed? What actions would you take? Justify your response using ethical principles.
According to the American Psychological Association (1992) Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct, the male therapist
As far as whom to report this to…initially, when a therapist feels another counselor has violated ethical principles, the therapist consults with other therapists knowledgeable about ethical issues, or other authorities, as is appropriate, to choose the most proper response, as is listed in code 8.02. If an informal resolution of ethical violations (code 8.04) can be reached by bringing the infraction to the attention of that therapist as long as no confidentiality rights are involved. When that is not appropriate, reporting of ethical violations (code 8.05) to state or national committees on professional ethics or to state licensing boards.
In either scenario, the therapist in question violated some very important ethical codes and principles that were set in place to protect the client and the therapist. This established, it now becomes important to realize that each case mu
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