Ethics and Decision Making in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Completely revised and updated to reflect the new 2014 ACA Code of Ethics and current ethics codes in psychology, social work, and marriage and family therapy. This unparalleled text guides helping professionals in the use of ethical decision-making processes as the foundation for ethical approaches to counseling and psychotherapy. The book focuses on ethical and legal challenges and standards across multiple professions emphasizing counseling, and including the professions of psychology, social work, and marriage and family therapy. It not only identifies relevant ethical issues in clinical mental health, rehabilitation, group, school, addictions counseling, and career counseling, it also addresses couple and family therapy, clinical supervision, and forensics. The text illuminates the particular application of ethical standards within each specialty. The book features five new sections that clearly define how ethical standards are interpreted and applied:: Privacy, Confidentiality, and Privileged Communication; Informed Consent; Roles and Relationships with Clients; Professional Responsibility; and Counselor Competency. Under the umbrella of each broad topic, the particular nuances of ethical standards within each specialty are analyzed to facilitate comparison across all specialties and settings. The text also addresses current issues in office and administrative practices, technology, and forensic practice that are crucial to school, clinical, and private practice settings. Compelling case studies illustrate the connection between ethical decision-making models and ethical practice. Learning objectives, a comprehensive review of scholarly literature, and a robust ancillary package for educators contribute to the fourth edition’s value for use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate classrooms.