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I love stories. I love ethics. And I especially love good stories about ethics and ethical issues. As a psychologist who has had experience with psychotherapy in multiple ways (as a client, a practitioner, a supervisor of practitioners, and an author who writes about the topic) I have lots of good stories about ethical issues and have seen many examples of ethical and unethical psychotherapist behavior. So, how would I answer the question above? I'd answer with-- (c) aspiration of or desired outcome of most practicing psychotherapists.
My experience as a psychologist and a supervisor of practitioners tells me that most psychotherapists don't enter the profession to be unethical. They enter the helping professions to do good by their clients, to treat them with respect and dignity, and to make the world a better place for human beings. In short, most individuals who enter the helping fields do so with the aspiration and desire to be competent and caring psychotherapists. But let's face it: Therapists like everyone else are human beings with the capability of losing perspective, of doing harm and /or of being self-serving. Many of us have probably heard or read about (or experienced) a therapist who acted unethically: was sexually involved with a client, violated a client's confidentiality, or was incompetent in their practice.
Unethical behaviors by psychotherapists happen for multiple reasons. Sometimes they don't take care of themselves and find themselves using their clients to meet their personal needs. Or sometimes they might not stop and think about what they are saying and end up sharing information about a client. These ethical errors or unethical behaviors are usually accompanied by what Mitch Handelsman and I (in Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors: A Proactive Approach) call "red flags" or warning signals that indicate to the therapist the aspiration or desire to be ethical is likely to be compromised. We wrote about these red flags to encourage psychotherapists to build self awareness about themselves as persons who have great impact on the lives of others. We also wrote about "green flags". Mitch and I describe green flags as therapist behaviors that go above and beyond the minimum requirements and show that therapists really do aspire to good work.
Over the next several blogs we (my co-writer, Dr. Mitchell Handelsman, and I) will share our thoughts about "red flags" that indicate trouble ahead, and about "green flags" that signal ethical behavior by psychotherapists.
