Counseling And Psychotherapy: Chapter Analysis

The book chapter that dealt with the topic of ethics was Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy by Gerald Corey. This was the book that was used for the Introduction to Counseling class. The chapter, called “Ethical Issues in Counseling Practice”, gave a good deal of information about what ethics looks like for a counselor when it comes to therapy. First of all, the chapter provided a great basis at the beginning by giving steps that a person needs to take when making an ethical decision. The eight steps seem helpful to use when there is an ethical dilemma, especially because it helps to break down the problem and ultimately gives ways on how to approach the situation. One of the things that was very helpful and informative was understanding the difference between assessment and diagnosis and when these should happen in counseling. This is something that I think can become confusing in different situations. Additionally, it was interesting how the section on these two factors focused on what ethics looked like in certain ethnic groups. Some patterns of behavior that fall under a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders may not apply to other cultures. Therefore, there is a higher chance of misdiagnosing populations whose
culture does not coincide with the Western culture (Corey, 2013). Frankly, this situation was never something that seemed like it would fall under ethical standards, but it now makes sense of why it could break ethical guidelines. One of the most important things from the chapter was the section on multiple relationships. This is something that can easily happen and may be one of the hardest things to avoid. Moreover, one of the points that the book mentioned was something that had not come to mind. It is obvious that multiple relationships refer to friendships, but it was helpful to know that other types of actions not often thought about can also cause ethical dilemmas. These included accepting gifts from clients and providing therapy to a friend (Corey, 2013). Not every situation is going to be thought about, but knowing a few basic possibilities of multiple relationships helps to know how to set proper boundaries from the beginning. One of the concepts that was difficult for me to understand was the difference between mandatory ethics, aspirational ethics, and positive ethics.
Before reading the chapter, I was not aware that there were different groups that certain ethical standards fell under. I understand that mandatory ethics includes the basic ethical standards that professionals should always follow. However, aspirational ethics and positive ethics had very similar definitions. Because they were both described as a practitioner following ethical standards above and beyond what the basics in order to look out for the best needs of the client, it was a little confusing to grasp the difference between the two (Corey,
2013.) Another piece of information that was new to me was privileged communication. I was a bit surprised to know that the regulations of client-therapist privacy differed state to state. It may be that I do not fully understand the concept, but it seems to me like all states should have the same rules and regulations when it comes to privileged communication. Moreover, this section of the chapter really did a great job at describing instances when confidentiality should be broken, specifically in certain legal instances. This is something that was not new information to me, but the way the author presented it made it clearer. Over all, the chapter on the book was really helpful to understand how following ethical standards looks like in the counseling field, especially because ethics can be a fuzzy subject to understand. I did agree with all of the information presented because every instance given had a good reason to back up why it was important to follow. Though the subject of ethics may seem complicated, is something needed in a field where there is so much confidentiality, which is why I understand and agree all of the ethical requirements in the career.