Ethical Issue in Counselling

Ethics are an essential part of the administration of psychological tests and it is necessary that all test users follow the ethical guidelines when using any type of psychological test. Psychological tests are an important tool in terms of many professions in an array of settings such as in clinical psychology, education, and even business. However, misuse of psychological test by the administrators is a constant and troubling issue that has the potential to harm the individuals involved and even society as a whole. For test takers, the misuse of a psychological test could result in improper diagnoses or inappropriate decision making. The misuse of tests reflects very poorly on the professional organizations along with highly trained test users and overall will result in poor decisions that may harm society in both an economic and mental manner (McIntire & Miller, 2007).

Usually test administrators do not intentionally misuse tests, but rather are not properly informed as to the technical knowledge and overall testing procedure involved. In an effort to prevent the misuse of psychological tests, psychologists developed a set of professional and technical standards for the creation, evaluation, administration, scoring, and interpretation of all psychological tests. Professionals can overcome the misuse of tests simply by understanding the professional and technical standards that are involved in using psychological tests (McIntire & Miller, 2007).

In any situation in which a professional offers advice or intervenes in a person's personal life in any way, issues regarding fairness, honesty, and conflict of interest are sure to exist. The term ethics directly indicates any issues or practices that have the potential to influence the decision making process that involves doing the right thing. Therefore, ethics refers to the moral aspect of things in terms of what is right or wrong in regards to various things such as an entire society, an organization, or a