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In today's world ethics and proper etiquette is required in most everyone's daily life. Ethics is also very important in a therapeutic relationship and can be broken if procedures and lines are not kept intact. I was emailed this article from a friend of mine and thought it would be something of great value to share with you, my readers. The article is written by STEPHEN H. BEHNKE, JD, PHD AND ROBERT KINSCHERFF, PHD, JD and appeared in Volume 33, No. 5 May 2002 issue of The Monitor on Psychology from the APA. I hope that you gain insight concerning how ethics are to be applied concerning past child abuse.
Volume 33, No. 5 May 2002 Ethics Rounds This month's 'Ethics Rounds' offers guidance on psychologists' ethical obligations. Must a psychologist report past child abuse? BY STEPHEN H. BEHNKE, JD, PHD AND ROBERT KINSCHERFF, PHD, JD Q:I am a psychologist who works mainly with adolescents and young adults. This fall I began treating a 20-year-old woman who came to therapy because of difficulties she was experiencing in an intimate relationship. My patient disclosed that when she was 12, an uncle who had come to stay with the family for several weeks sexually molested her on a number of occasions. My patient reports that I am the first person she has told that her uncle "messed with" her and that were anyone in the family to learn what happened a major and perhaps irreparable rift would inevitably result. The uncle has since moved to a distant part of the state and for the last several years my patient has been able to make plans to be away when he visits. I have attended workshops in ethics and law in which mandatory reporting requirements have been discussed. But I am uncertain--do mandatory reporting laws apply when a patient reports abuse that occurred many years ago and when there is no further contact between the alleged perpetrator and the victim? What is my ethical obligation? Is there a difference between my legal duty and my ethical duty? A:Ethics means thinking about reasons in terms of values. The values of our profession are set forth most clearly in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 1992)--our ethics code. As Ethical Standard 5.02 states, "Psychologists have a primary obligation and take reasonable precautions to respect the confidentiality rights of those with whom they work...." At times, the value of confidentiality will conflict with other important values. Such a conflict may arise when a psychologist receives information concerning child abuse--information that may be helpful or necessary to stop the abuse and protect the child.
The copyright of the article Therapist Ethics in Foundations of Psychology is owned by Tara Kimball. Permission to republish Therapist Ethics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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