The Mental Health Professional: A Case Study

The mental health professional faces a problematic influence on diagnosis. Because the patient, the14-year-old male, doesn’t have the right insurance provider to provide coverage for this diagnosis, the mental health professional settles for a preliminary diagnosis that fits the client’s irritable presentation and insurance provider even when the diagnoses is not entirely accurate. “Unfortunately, client payment method exerts undue influence over the diagnosis in subtle ways that professionals do not recognize” (Welfel, 2015). Which is why the ethical implication the mental health provider should consider the affects of misusing a diagnosis before making this decision. According to Welfel (2015), “ethics should govern the diagnostic process
for many reasons,” and “diagnosing is one of the most influential activities in which a professional engages (Behnke, 2004).” Altering the client’s diagnosis to fit the client’s insurance provider can cause the misdiagnoses to become a “self-fulfilling prophecy” for a client. According to Welfel (2015), “When Tubbs and Pomerantz (2001) repeated this study 14 years later, they found that 40% of psychologists admitted to deliberately altering a diagnosis to meet insurance criteria, with 3.3% acknowledging that they engaged in this behavior very often.” Also, the mental health provider should consider the criminal penalty that comes with insurance fraud.