Iyanla Vanzant's Ethical Implications

Summary
With the advent of reality programming overtaking the television landscape, questions arise regarding the ethical implications involved in shows that seem to suggest counseling or therapy occurs within a television show, particularly one purported to be reality television. Studies show that television is an information media. According to a survey by the National Health Council, people received almost half (40%) of their information regarding healthcare from television (Vogel, Gentile, & Kaplan, 2008). That survey was almost 20 years old. It is possible that the percentage is greater now.
Iyanla: Fix My Life is a reality program on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It has been on since 2012 and won the 2017 Image Award for Best Reality
After all, Iyanla Vanzant is known as a life coach, ordained Yoruba priestess, attorney, ordained minister, best-selling author, and inspirational speaker (About Iyanla, n.d.). She attended a non-credited graduate school and received a master’s in spiritual psychology (University of Santa Monica, n.d.) and possesses several honorary doctorates according to her biography on a speakers’ bureau website (World Class Speakers & Entertainers, n.d.). In no forum has she represented herself as a counselor, psychologist, or therapist; however, she does use techniques that counselors use and she does use diagnoses that are provided by mental health professionals, be they psychiatrists, counselors, or psychologists. Further, her guests are people who need the skills and help of a mental health professional. Audiences consider depictions of mental health professionals and positive or negative portrayals influence their attitude and intention toward seeking mental health counseling (Vogel, Gentile, & Kaplan, 2008). According to the cultivation hypothesis, viewers create and modify their outlook and reality perceptions from television show contents. Thus, those persons the viewers regards as an authority or expert has a responsibility to present accurate and appropriate representations of the therapeutic
and A.12. are inextricably linked considering the relationship between Iyanla, Fix My Life and the treatment of Neffe and Soullow’s appearance on the show. Ms. Vanzant’s declaration at the end of the show proves that she considered her work with the couple finished and thus that she had completed an appropriate termination of the “therapeutic relationship.” It is more likely however, that she did not. For the termination to be appropriate rather than be considered abandonment, “the client [must] no longer need[s] assistance, is not likely to benefit, or is being harmed by continued counseling” (ACA, 2014). Two days is not enough to conclude that continued counseling would not be helpful or harmful. The client’s behavior (Neffe’s) after the end of the show indicates that assistance is definitely still needed. The other justifications for terminations also do not apply. Nothing during the show indicated Ms. Vanzant or Soullow were in any physical jeopardy. No financial relationship appeared to be applicable in this case. The offer of a two-day group workshop should not constitute an appropriate referral