Practioners that professionally operate in various fields of activity that are connected to ethical decision-making can face contradictory situations. In order to elaborate efficient and effective guidelines for specialists in the sphere of psychotherapy, it is obligatory to recognize the key theoretical notions and concepts. Ethics codes exist to ensure ethical decisions are made and properly discussed, but unpredictable situations can arise that require original action methodologies.
Ethical dilemmas are circumstances in which a person should choose between two moral obligations that cannot be ignored. When giving assessments, advisors and consultants are expected to use all practices and ethical dilemma resolving strategies (Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, 1999). Considering personal practice, it is feasible to note that the most difficult part of acting ethically is to keep personal experiences and problems inside and not let them affect the outside world when facing the first dilemma. Referring to an example, due to individual issues, a psychotherapist can break the rules of confidentiality and therapeutic boundaries, which are of a substantial importance. The situation in which the codes of ethics fail to provide definitive advice for professionals can be described as a questionable use of theories. This happens since a specialist cannot be sure that the generally accepted concept is a priori correct and applicable to all situations.
Depicting the steps a professional should take to resolve these ethical issues, it is possible to state that it is obligatory to, firstly, examine the corresponding theory in detail. Then, the professional should analyze the particular situation without fear of behaving originally and provide a meaningful answer based on the situation’s circumstances. Reviewing the ethical decision-making model steps, it is feasible to emphasize several phases, including emotions and intuition, values, decision consequences, publicizing, and reflection (Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, 1999). Counselors can recognize a correct decision with the help of the last stage, which is reflection, since this step provokes substantial discussion that can generate final judgments.
To summarize, considering personal practice, it is feasible to note that the most difficult part of acting ethically is to keep problems inside and not let them affect the outside world when facing the first dilemma. The situation in which the codes of ethics fail to provide advice for professionals can be described as a questionable use of theories. Counselors can recognize a correct decision with the help of reflection since this step provokes discussion that can generate judgements.
Reference
Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. (1999). Code of Ethics. Web.