Ethical Dilemmas of a Psychologist

Different professionals have their own dilemmas. A psychologist has different types of ethical dilemmas which involve confidentiality, conflictual relationships, payment sources of the clients, in forensic psychology and etc.

A national survey was conducted to the members of American Psychology Association about their ethical dilemmas that they've encountered. The following real life situations are the most frequent dilemmas:

Confidentiality

Most of the members’ dilemmas involve confidentiality. The incidents that they usually encounter are clients talking about actual or potential risks to third parties, child abuse reporting, clients infected by HIV/AIDS, patients who committed violence and etc. Some dilemmas are wrestling with agonizing questions about whether confidential information should be disclosed and, if so, to whom. A respondent said, “One of my clients claimed she was raped; the police did not believe her and refused to follow up (because of her mental history). Another of my clients described how he raped a woman (the same woman).”

Another situation is when some of the incidents, especially about mandatory child abuse reporting laws, illustrate situations in which some psychologists believe it is better to break the law and act on their belief. Most psychologists are likely to have encountered dilemmas in which following legal requirements seemed clinically and ethically wrong, perhaps placing the client or third parties at needless risk for harm and injustice.

Confidentiality is the one of the most fundamental principle in the field of Psychology. Violating confidentiality cannot be avoided especially if law and rights are involved. The boundaries of confidentiality should be discussed explicitly between the psychiatrist/psychologist and the client/group.

Dual Relationship

A psychologist must avoid entering into multiple relationships with his clients which could impair his professional judgment, compromise the integrity of the treatment, and/or use the relationship for his own gain. A respondent encountered this kind of dilemma wherein he had a romantic attraction with his client’s mother whom he already establish a good relationship with it. But then, refer to avoid the dual relationship. Also, they cannot work or frequently bond with their clients to avoid client’s exploitation or manipulation.

Payments

Another type of dilemma involves payment providers, plans, settings, or methods. Inadequate insurance coverage for clients with urgent needs created a cruel ethical dilemma in which psychologists felt forced either to breach their responsibilities to clients or to be less than honest with what sometimes seems an adversarial provider of reimbursement. As one respondent put it: "I feel caught between providing the best service and being truly ethical." Several of troubling issues were described such as billing for no-shows, billing family therapy as if it were individual, distorting a patient's condition so that it qualifies for coverage, signing forms for unlicensed staff, and not collecting co-payments.

Forensic Psychology

According to a respondent, “A psychologist in my area is widely known, to clients, psychologists, and the legal community to give whatever testimony is requested in court. He has a very commanding "presence" and it works. He will say anything, adamantly, for pay. Clients/lawyers continue to use him because if the other side uses him, that side will probably win the case (because he's so persuasive, though lying).” With tons of cash payment, a psychologist can manipulate the trial case and the judge, either in a good or bad way. When it comes to child custody, some psychologists tend to be bias because in this case, the psychologist cannot talk to both parents and the only goal of the attorney here is to make the psychologist tell a testimony which will help a parent to get the child custody.

Psychology Research

Another dilemma involves their research. Some psychologists mentioned pressure or tendencies to misstate research procedures or findings. They are concern about the right of the research participants because psychologists need to let their participants know that they are being used or experimented for a research, so there is the tendency that participant will reject or accept. Psychologists may have also inadequate researches and having difficulties to conduct a research in large population or organization.

These cited situations are just some of the ethical dilemmas of a psychologist. All in all, each profession has its own code of conduct that should be observed and there are situations that should remain in order.