Legal and Ethical Issues about Combining Counseling with Acupuncture

It was difficult approaching this research paper due to the overflow on information about combining professions and which perspective to take on it. At first I wanted to research the legal and ethical issues of non-erotic touch within counseling and acupuncture, but the research on that is scarce; second I wanted to explore the legal and ethical issues of non erotic touch across cultures by combing the laws of the USA and Germany, however it turned out to be quiet similar. Lastly I looked into the legal and ethical issues about combining counseling, which is western approach, with eastern medicine such as acupuncture. The information I found was vast, but after filtering out some articles that support my view I was able to put together an interesting topic. There was not a lot of information about legal issues other than gaining the proper licensure for both practices. As far as ethical issues go, they are surprisingly extremely similar within counseling and acupuncture. The paper will approach the issues involved in combining psychological counseling with an eastern method (i.e. integrative psychology, acupuncture, herbology, etc.). By combining the body and mind, a client has the chance to explore their psychological needs, find their mind-body connection, and therefore heal better and faster. Furthermore, psychologists are finding that the field is advancing and expanding rapidly. In order to keep up with the diversity, it is important to educate oneself to conceptualize the client appropriately on a “broader, holistic, incorporated mind, body, and transpersonal approach” (Zampitella, 2011, para. 1). Many practitioners are therefore including other theories, techniques, or interventions from other methodologies as a way of adding to their primary angle (Zimpanella, 2011). When wanting to combine practices, one must be sure to follow the right protocols of each practice or method in order to avoid lawsuits, complaints, penalties, fines and more. According

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