The Ethics and Professional Responsibility - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about The Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Answer: Introduction: Psychologists often work with individuals who are vulnerable in certain situations. In order to be a proper medical health person, the psychological services need to clearly know the ethical issues that psychologists face. In case such services are to be provided the psychologist is obligated to remain informed about the present ethical standards or issues. In case a particular individual is a consumer of services of psychological nature the person should always remain informed about his or her rights. There are certain problems which individuals face in their lives. In order to deal with personality problems a person needs to take professional help in order to properly deal with such issues. Ethics and professional responsibility characteristics: There are certain facts which need to be maintained in the profession of psychotherapy. The characteristics that need to be maintained in the profession of psychotherapy are those of competence, informed consent, confidentiality, and relationships with individuals who are vulnerable. There must also be a concern overall for practices of ethical nature. Competence need to be established in the professional practice. It is the right of customers to expect their practitioners to be competent. The services which are promised need to be provided properly. A practitioner can be competent if he or she has received proper training, supervised practice and experience. It is required that the practitioner also needs to keep his or her skills up to date (Bond, 2015). The practitioner should also discuss his or her skills with those individuals who consume their services. Confidentiality is one of the most aspects that need to be maintained by the psychologists. There should be proper amount of secrecy that needs to be maintained about the people who are visiting the psychologists and the supervisors need to be aware about who are using the information which have been divulged to them (Goodwin, 2016). Informed consent needs to be maintained at all times. The people who come to the therapists need to be aware of what services are being provided to them. The details regarding the services being offered need to be maintained at all times. The services can be refused by the people coming to take the service at all times (Hays, 2016). There are several instances in which the individuals who come to the therapists for their therapy are weaker than them. This is due to their age, intellectual ability, emotional insecurities, legal status as well as other attributes. In the general sense the therapists should act in a way which best help the individuals A probable relationship of a romantic nature between a therapist and client is a way in which such an ethical principle might be violated and is the commonest reasons for lawsuits against the psychologists (Pope Vasquez, 2016). There should also be a general concern for the ethical practice. Every individual needs to be aware of the role of ethical guidelines in the direction of the application of psychology. The specific reasons in psychology will elaborate the view of the ethical behavioural explanation whenever applicable. There needs to be a certain amount of courage to report unethical behaviour (Proctor, 2014). Ethics involved in the career of Stephen: According to the case study provided, Stephen was an individual who was suffering from loneliness. By nature he was a loner and spend majority of his time within himself. After getting his degree he started practising psychotherapy. The client who was send to Stephen had a violent and controlling personality. There was a record of controlling and abusive personality problems in the client. The client became too much for Stephen to handle but nevertheless he continued with the sessions. The suggestions given by the supervisor where also not accepted by Stephen. After a few days Stephen started to avoid his clients and stopped going to work. He started complaining and did not want to tackle the situations. The first problem that was faced in this situation was that of competence. The client was not provided with suitable services as Stephen was not competent enough to deal with the problems of his client. It was his responsibility to make his client aware of his incompetence after the realisation that he is not suitable enough for the post of therapist. He should also inform his supervisor of the problems which he is facing with his client and abide by his supervisors decisions (Barnett Molzon, 2014). The most significant issue in this scenario was the lack of respect of the ethical practice. This is due to the reason that Stephen did not have any sort of concern towards his behaviour towards his client and he also did not have any respect towards his profession. He needed to understand the responsibilities of a therapist before tackling serious cases. There was an overall incapability in tackling a client who is mentally unstable. The person was suffering from mental instability and hence needed a deep level of care which he did not receive. It was also the duty of Stephen as his therapist that his client be appointed with another therapist to solve his issues which is did not do (Welfel, 2015). Way in which the supervisor could help Stephen: It was the duty of the supervisor to check whether Stephen was performing his duties properly. In case the supervisor felt that Stephen was not fulfilling his duties he needed to impose his viewpoint on Stephen. He should not have agreed when Stephen did not want to appoint another therapist to his client when the supervisor suggested that someone else be appointed. The way in which the supervisor could ensure that Stephen performed his duties effectively was to arrange a possible meeting with the client and the supervisors senior in order to hear both sides of the story and also to ensure that problems of both Stephen and his client were cleared. This would allow Stephen to resume his duties and give him the required amount of confidence in order to renew his responsibilities (BPS. (2018). Ethics involved in the career of Joanna: According to the case study provided, Joanna was an extremely social and adventurous person. She had a very unpredictable lifestyle but after taking up psychology she became more mature, responsible and accountable for her actions. Joanna had an intelligent client who was suffering from borderline personality disorder. After five months of attending therapy sessions with Joanna when he declared that he had fallen in love with her, Joanna behaved like a true professional and to make it clear that she was only his therapist and under proper supervision, she was able to make relevant amount of progress therapeutically. In this connection, it can be said that Joanna complied with the ethics of the psychotherapy field and displayed immense amount of competence, respect for the practice and respect towards her client and her own self as a whole. In the party when Joanna failed to guess the person who got close to her as her client she was quite shocked and tried to tell her supervisor what had happened. Despite being ashamed of what happened, she tried to explain the matter to her supervisor and narrated the whole story. This was an action in the positive direction and she displayed the true characteristics of a good therapist. The responsibility was displayed by Joanna in the way she tried to maintain a degree of formality in her dealings with her client. Way in which supervisor could help Joanna: The supervisor of Joanna could try to make it clear to her that it was not required for her to panic. This was due to the reason that she had tried her level best to maintain a safe distance from her client at all times. It could also have been explained by the supervisor that sometimes certain mistakes happen in the lives of people and therapists are no different. The situation that happened in the party was unfortunate but there was no need to dwell on the negatives and the only way was to move ahead. The supervisor needed to arrange a meeting between Joanna and her client so that the awkwardness and the minor mishap which led to such an embarrassing situation could be clarified. In case a meeting would be arranged it would be possible for the client to understand Joannas disinterest and the cordiality and strictly professional nature of their relationship. In case the meeting would take place in the presence of the supervisor it would be even better (2018). Discussion: It is clear from both the situations that the ethics involved are different. In the scenario involving Stephen it is clear that he did not abide by the basic responsibilities of a proper therapist. He did not show any strength of character. He had dealt with his own issues of loneliness earlier and hence it was advisable for him to apply his learning experiences in the issues faced by his clients (Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. ,2018). At a time when Stephen found that his client was misbehaving and behaving in an aggressive manner, he needed to report the situation immediately to his supervisor. In absconding from his responsibilities he was being unjust to his client as well as towards the ethics of psychotherapy. Stephen did not even communicate properly with his client informing him of the reason for his absence. Such a sort of behaviour on the part of therapists can be referred to as the interruption of the psychological services. The behaviour of Stephen was extremely u nprofessional and could account for people not wishing to come to him for psychological and therapeutic service (Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. (2018). In case of Joanna, the situation at the party where she failed to recognize her client pin pointedly at first could amount to a little bit of negligence on her part in failing to recognize her client. It was advisable for her to keep to her own limits while deciding to drink in the party in order to remain in her oproper senses to prevent what actually happened in the party (Articles, Research, Resources in Psychology. (2018). Conclusion: Ethics is a very important characteristic to be maintained in life and specifically in the job scenario of every individual. In case of therapy and specifically in case of psychotherapy, a certain amount of ethical responsibilities to be maintained at all times. It is only if ethics are followed in every sphere of life that people will be more and more dependable and trustworthy. In case of Stephen he could not maintain the policies or the responsibilities of a therapist and hence the situation became negative for him as well. On the other hand in case of Joanna, she displayed a true amount of responsibility and professionalism at all times. To her, the responsibility and job of a therapist was extremely important. References: (2018). Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://mfss.gov.mt/en/The-Ministry/Pages/MPPB.aspx Articles, Research, Resources in Psychology. (2018).Kspope.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://kspope.com/ Barnett, J. E., Molzon, C. H. (2014). Clinical supervision of psychotherapy: Essential ethics issues for supervisors and supervisees.Journal of clinical psychology,70(11), 1051-1061. Bond, T. (2015).Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage. BPS. (2018).Bps.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://www.bps.org.uk/ Goodwin, C. J. (2016).Research in psychology methods and design. John Wiley Sons. Hays, P. A. (2016). Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy. Ivey, G. (2014). The ethics of mandatory personal psychotherapy for trainee psychotherapists.Ethics Behavior,24(2), 91-108. Pope, K. S., Vasquez, M. J. (2016).Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling: A practical guide. John Wiley Sons. Proctor, G. M. (2014).Values and ethics in counselling and psychotherapy. Sage. Psychology Resources - Psychology.org. (2018).Psychology.org. Retrieved 11 January 2018, from https://www.psychology.org/links/.../Ethical_Issues/ Welfel, E. R. (2015).Ethics in counseling psychotherapy. Cengage Learning.