Ethical and Legal Dilemmas in Counseling Essay

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Total Length: 2715 words ( 9 double-spaced pages)

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Abstract

In this essay, we discuss the ethical and legal dilemmas in counseling.  While many people talk about the benefits of counseling, there is no question that mental health professionals are often confronted with tricky and complex legal and ethical issues.  In this article, we discuss some of those issues, how counselors confront them, and what legal obligations attach to them.  We begin with an introduction of the American Psychological Organization’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, and then discuss potential scenarios where practitioners may face ethical dilemmas.  Because every counseling relationship is unique and because counselors help people in a wide variety of different areas, the overview will not include every potential ethical or legal dilemma.  However, once you have finished reading the overview, you should have a comfortable working knowledge of the types of scenarios that could be legally or ethically troublesome for mental health practitioners.  Furthermore, the article will also provide you with an example of a properly written academic essay.  The basic structure provides a template for correct format.  As a result, in this article, you can expect to find: an introduction, a hook, a thesis statement, a structured body with evidence and analysis of that evidence, a conclusion, and a reference section.  Additionally, any sources used in the essay will be properly cited and referenced in a works cited/ bibliography/ references section. Therefore, the essay serves two functions: informing readers about ethical and legal dilemmas in counseling and providing an example for a properly written essay.   

Related Topics

Professional Ethics- Almost all professions have stated ethical guidelines, and, for those that do not, there are often unstated ethical expectations.  This essay would discuss the basic ethical principles that guide most professional relationships, as well as delve into ethical guidelines that only apply in specific professional situations.  

Counseling Relationships- The goal of counseling is often to help people improve their interpersonal skills, which often begins with the development of a good relationship with the counselor.  This essay would explore what type of boundaries are appropriate in a relationship between a therapist and a client.  It would look into whether there are different perspectives about what type of boundaries a therapist should establish with a counselor?  

Power Imbalance Between Therapist and Client- Many people are aware that therapists and clients have a professional relationship, but in a therapeutic setting it is not unusual for clients to feel like they are talking to a good friend or confidante, rather than a professional.  In addition, outside of the relationship, the client may actually have more power and influence than the therapist.  This essay would explore whether there is an inherent power imbalance between therapists and clients and whether that imbalance exists in all therapeutic relationships.  

Outline

I. Introduction

II. Body

A. Counselors

B. Legal obligations

C. Ethical obligations

D. Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

III. Conclusion 

Introduction

According to Dictionary.com, counseling refers to “professional guidance in resolving personal conflicts and emotional problems.” A wide range of people serve as counselors in their professional capacity, from psychologists and psychiatrists to attorneys, clergy, crises counselors, and social workers.  While each of these professionals may rely on a slightly different set of professional ethical rules and guidelines to govern their counselor-client relationships, all of them have to be prepared to deal with potential ethical and legal dilemmas that can arise from the counseling relationship.  Most of these dilemmas focus on the counselor’s role as helper to the client, and are designed at ensuring that the counseling relationship is always guided by the client’s interests.  However, in some circumstances a counselor’s legal and ethical obligations may actually require the professional to engage in behaviors that could lead to harm for the client.     

Essay Hook

Because they are situationally-specific, determining legal and ethical guidelines for counselors can be extremely complex, requiring professionals to seek guidance from others in their field when confronted with particularly difficult dilemmas. 

Thesis Statement

However, when broken down to their most basic precepts, the legal and ethical obligations of counseling require a counselor to work to further a client’s best interests, except for very specific situations where working to help a client achieve their goals could create a lasting harm for a third-party.   

Body

Counselors

Counseling is a very broad term and can encompass a wide range of different relationships between professionals and clients.  In fact, in many places, one need not even be a professional to qualify as a counselor.  For example, in many states clergy can play the role of counselor, even without any training to be a counselor.

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  In addition, in some states crises or emergency counselors can receive training and be permitted to provide counseling that is specific to an emergency scenario; for example rape crises counselor and suicide hotline counselors are often lay people with no professional counseling training or experience.  Attorneys are often referred to as counselors, as well, because they are expected to give their clients professional counsel and advice.  However, there are five professions that generally come to mind when one hears the term counselor: psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and advanced psychiatric nurses (Cherry, 2019).   Each group of counselors has a different set of training and qualifications.  More importantly, each group is governed by a different professional body.  This means that their professional ethical guidelines, and, in some instances, their legal obligations, may differ slightly.  

When many people think of mental health professionals, they think of psychiatrists.  Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have focused their practice on psychiatric care.  Psychiatrists can diagnose and treat mental illness.  What differentiates them from…

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…their clients and sincerely believe that conversion therapy is beneficial.  In states where conversion therapy is not prohibited, would these practitioners be engaged in maleficence to provide conversion therapy to minor clients?  If not, does it matter whether the parents of the minor requested conversion therapy or whether they brought the minor in for therapy to help them adjust to being a member of the LGBTQ community?  

Likewise, many counselors work with people who are involved in relationships.  If two people enter into a counseling situation with a counselor, for example a couple seeking marital counseling, then the counselor has obligations to both clients.  Is it unethical for a counselor to suggest or encourage one partner to leave the other, when the counselor has been hired to provide relationship counseling?  In that scenario, a divorce or separation may be beneficial to one client, but harmful to another.

Finally, as confidantes, counselors are often the recipients of information from their clients that can place the clients in legal jeopardy.  In most instances, confidentiality laws preclude the counselors from revealing that information to law enforcement.  There are generally exceptions to those laws if a client reveals something in counseling that suggests that client is going to hurt himself or others.  However, descriptions of past activities generally fall into the confidential material category.  One notable exception is descriptions of crimes, particularly sexual crimes, against children.  In many states, mental health professionals are mandatory reporters and are required by law to report child abuse, even if they only learn about that child abuse because of a relationship with a client.  This can expose clients to significant criminal punishment, as well as upheaval in their personal lives.  Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that, while a counselor is generally prohibited from taking actions that could harm a client, there are notable exceptions.  

Conclusion 

With all of the different types of counseling available, and each rule or territory having its own laws regarding counseling, it is impossible to create a single list of the legal and ethical rules regarding counseling.  However, it is very apparent that ethical and legal dilemmas are most likely to arise when a counselor’s personal interests or beliefs conflict with a client’s personal interests or when a counselor’s legal obligations conflict with a client’s best interests.  In those scenarios, it can be difficult for even the best-intentioned mental health professional to determine the right course of action. .....

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