Prior to beginning work on this week’s discussion, please review
Standard 3: Human Relations Links to an external site.
in the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Please also read the Asay and Lal (2014) “Who’s Googled Whom? Trainees’ Internet and Online Social Networking Experiences, Behaviors, and Attitudes with Clients and Supervisors,” Harris and Robinson Kurpius (2014) “Social Networking and Professional Ethics: Client Searches, Informed Consent, and Disclosure,” and Taylor, McMinn, Bufford, and Chang (2010) “Psychologists’ Attitudes and Ethical Concerns Regarding the Use of Social Networking Web Sites” articles.
For this discussion, you will examine ethical issues encountered by clinical and counseling psychologists in the digital age. Begin by reviewing the cases of Dr. Arnold and Dr. Washington listed below and selecting one of these ethical dilemmas for analysis.
Case 1
Dr. Arnold is a clinical psychologist who specializes in child and adolescent issues. From time to time, she provides consultation on high lethality cases within the juvenile court system. Recently, she was referred a case involving a 15-year-old male who has a history of aggression, angry outburst, destructive behavior, and cyberstalking. Concerned for her safety and well-being, Dr. Arnold input the client’s name into a search engine, which yielded the client’s social network page. Dr. Arnold is uncertain whether or not to look at the client’s social network page.
Case 2
Dr. Washington is a counseling psychologist who specializes in trauma and self-harming behavior. Recently, he received a “friend request” from a former client who he provided individual therapy to six months ago. Dr. Washington opted not to accept the “friend request,” but considered sending a private message to the client with the social networking policy from his informed consent. Dr. Washington is uncertain whether or not to send the private message to the client.
In your initial post, assume the role of a colleague to the doctor named and analyze the ethical issues encountered in your chosen case. Given the situation described in the case study, recommend how your colleague should proceed. Provide support for your response by citing the required articles for this discussion. Consider the current and potential actions of your colleague and explain whether or not he or she is currently, or potentially will be, in violation of the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Provide support for your explanation by citing Standard 3: Human Relations Links to an external site.in the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Explain how your colleague might avoid this type of ethical dilemma in the future. Describe what policy or policies you might put in place if you were your colleague.
Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (apa.org)
1st Peer
Overview
Doctor Arnold is a clinical psychologist. She focuses in child/adolescent problems. Doctor Arnold was recently referred a matter that involves a 15-year-old male. This male has demonstrated tendencies of aggression, angry outburst, destructive behavior, and cyberstalking.
Doctor Arnold elected to input this client’s name into an internet search engine. The search engine showed the individual’s social network page.
Recommend how your colleague should proceed.
Although I was unable to identify an ethical code that explicitly forbids viewing a clients social media, individuals often use social media accounts to share very revealing information about themselves. This information might cause the therapist to develop a bias whether it be fair or unfair regarding the client. This biases can interfere with the mental health care the individual receives from their therapist (Bettergarcia, 2021). This bias could also create a lack of fairness in the conversations between the therapist and the client (Bias, 2009).
Social media definitely provides a clearer window regarding an individual’s life. However, having a psychologist review this data could cause more harm than good. Confidentiality is absolutely critical in the mental health industry. However, social media can be a means to identify potential red flags regarding an individual. Many clients could consider this a breach of trust, or an invasion of privacy. Clients should have expectations regarding their therapist. Inspecting social media could violate these expectations. Psychologist should be able to work with the information that they are able to obtain through other means. Using this information that was not intended for the therapist would be difficult to justify.
Some individuals might not understand the therapeutic relationship between themselves and a therapist. Many therapists and clients tend to develop a very strong bond. This bond will differs from that of a personal relationship or friendship.
Ethics
The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct was written to provide direction for psychologists. It was also written to provide standards of professional conduct. The introduction to the APA does detail that psychologists have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to resolve any conflict in a responsible manner (APA, 2017).
· Section 3.10 details Informed Consent. This section informs psychologist that they have a responsibility to obtain informed consent from the individual when conducting research (APA, 2017).
· Section 8.02 details Informed Consent to Research. This section informs psychologists that they have a responsibility of obtaining informed consent regarding the purpose of the research, expected duration, and procedures. Additionally, the individuals should then have the right to decline (APA, 2017).
Conclusion
The Code of Ethics highlights the importance of creating boundaries with clients. However, creating boundaries should be a two-way street. Clients could consider this a boundary violation. The client must be properly informed in the event the psychologist elects to view this information. Additionally psychologist should be able to disclose the intent behind viewing this information with the client. Without this consent, the therapist is opening themselves up to an unwanted ethical dilemma. A psychologist has a responsibility to try to understand a clients personal crisis and what the client is coping with, however spying on the clients just because you can is inappropriate. However, it is the therapist responsibility to determine whether a real concern for his/her safety, however in most other cases it’s not advised or appropriate. This would assist the therapist from “jumping to different conclusions.”
References
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017).
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
Bettergarcia, J. (2021). Therapy/Therapist bias. In A. E. Goldberg, & G. Beemyn (Eds.),
The SAGE encyclopedia of trans studies. Sage Publications. Credo Reference:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/ashford.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fsagetrans%2Ftherapy_therapist_bias%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D3165Links to an external site.
Bias. (2009). In A. S. Reber, R. Allen, & E. S. Reber,
The Penguin dictionary of psychology (4th ed.). Penguin. Credo Reference:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/ashford.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fpenguinpsyc%2Fbias%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D3165
In your responses, evaluate the recommendations suggested by your peer. State whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s recommendation to the doctor on how to proceed. Suggest other ethical implications your peer may not have considered in this case. What follow up questions might you ask your peer to aid in the ethical assessment of the case? In addition to the suggestions provided by your peer, what recommendations might you make to the doctor so that he or she might avoid these types of dilemmas in the future? What additions or changes might you make to the policy or policies suggested by your peer?
2nd Peer
In your initial post, assume the role of a colleague to the doctor named and analyze the ethical issues encountered in your chosen case.
The situation that will be discussed is with Dr. Arnold. Dr. Arnold is a psychologist that has a main focus on helping children and adolescence. The psychologist at times, does provide assistance consultation with juvenile court in specifically in high level cases. The current situation in the case study, explain of a patient who is being evaluated by Dr. Arnold, and this patient was a 15 year old male that has had previous history of destructive behavior, cyberstalking, aggression, and aggressive outburst. After Dr. Arnold, was aware of the situation and before actually engaging with said patient the doctor decided, for personal reason which they felt unsafe, and ended up using patient private information such as their name to look up their social media page. Dr. Arnold is in debate with actually looking at patient’s social network.
Given the situation described in the case study, recommend how your colleague should proceed. Provide support for your response by citing the required articles for this discussion.
The ethical dilemma occurred with Dr. Arnold about using social media to find information about a client. According to Asay and Lal (2014), there is about 72.5 percent, of professionals are concerned with ethical implications with clients and social networking sites. With a high percentage of problems, the best solution would not be to go on to it, and contact a supervisor regarding the situation, just to be informed what happen and not just the way they feel about this case. Then the supervisor can have them work on a different case due to the concerns.
Consider the current and potential actions of your colleague and explain whether or not he or she is currently, or potentially will be, in violation of the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Provide support for your explanation by citing
Standard 3: Human Relations Links to an external site.
Links to an external site.
in the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
The ethical issue that did occur with Dr. Arnold was 3.01 Unfair Discrimination. This is when according to APA (2010), when a professional psychologist engages in unfair discrimination, whether it is based on age, gender, race, culture, socioeconomic status, or basis through the law, that they engage in. As well as 3.06 conflict of interest, professionally, by means to expose a client to cause harm or exploitation.
Explain how your colleague might avoid this type of ethical dilemma in the future. Describe what policy or policies you might put in place if you were your colleague.
To be able to avoid this ethical dilemma, I would be to contact the supervisor immediately once they felt unsafe. As a professional yes, it is important to take on cases and be unbiased however if there are cases that make the professional feel uneasy for any reason it is important to address it with the supervisor. To help resolve the issue that occurred, I would recommend 1.02 of APA (2010). This indicates that the professional takes responsibility for the ethical conflict and clarifies the reasons, and follows the steps in order to have any resolution within the general principles and ethical standards.
References
American Psychological Association. (2010).
Standard 3:
Human relations Links to an external site. Links to an external site.
. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=6Links to an external site.
Asay, P. A., & Lal, A. (2014).
Who’s Googled whom? Trainees’ internet and online social networking experiences, behaviors, and attitudes with clients and supervisors Links to an external site. Links to an external site.
.
Training and Education in Professional Psychology 8(2), 105-111. doi: 10.1037/tep0000035
In your responses, evaluate the recommendations suggested by your peer. State whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s recommendation to the doctor on how to proceed. Suggest other ethical implications your peer may not have considered in this case. What follow up questions might you ask your peer to aid in the ethical assessment of the case? In addition to the suggestions provided by your peer, what recommendations might you make to the doctor so that he or she might avoid these types of dilemmas in the future? What additions or changes might you make to the policy or policies suggested by your peer?
1st Peer
Overview
Doctor Arnold is a clinical psychologist. She focuses in child/adolescent problems. Doctor Arnold was recently referred a matter that involves a 15-year-old male. This male has demonstrated tendencies of aggression, angry outburst, destructive behavior, and cyberstalking.
Doctor Arnold elected to input this client’s name into an internet search engine. The search engine showed the individual’s social network page.
Recommend how your colleague should proceed.
Although I was unable to identify an ethical code that explicitly forbids viewing a clients social media, individuals often use social media accounts to share very revealing information about themselves. This information might cause the therapist to develop a bias whether it be fair or unfair regarding the client. This biases can interfere with the mental health care the individual receives from their therapist (Bettergarcia, 2021). This bias could also create a lack of fairness in the conversations between the therapist and the client (Bias, 2009).
Social media definitely provides a clearer window regarding an individual’s life. However, having a psychologist review this data could cause more harm than good. Confidentiality is absolutely critical in the mental health industry. However, social media can be a means to identify potential red flags regarding an individual. Many clients could consider this a breach of trust, or an invasion of privacy. Clients should have expectations regarding their therapist. Inspecting social media could violate these expectations. Psychologist should be able to work with the information that they are able to obtain through other means. Using this information that was not intended for the therapist would be difficult to justify.
Some individuals might not understand the therapeutic relationship between themselves and a therapist. Many therapists and clients tend to develop a very strong bond. This bond will differs from that of a personal relationship or friendship.
Ethics
The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct was written to provide direction for psychologists. It was also written to provide standards of professional conduct. The introduction to the APA does detail that psychologists have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to resolve any conflict in a responsible manner (APA, 2017).
· Section 3.10 details Informed Consent. This section informs psychologist that they have a responsibility to obtain informed consent from the individual when conducting research (APA, 2017).
· Section 8.02 details Informed Consent to Research. This section informs psychologists that they have a responsibility of obtaining informed consent regarding the purpose of the research, expected duration, and procedures. Additionally, the individuals should then have the right to decline (APA, 2017).
Conclusion
The Code of Ethics highlights the importance of creating boundaries with clients. However, creating boundaries should be a two-way street. Clients could consider this a boundary violation. The client must be properly informed in the event the psychologist elects to view this information. Additionally psychologist should be able to disclose the intent behind viewing this information with the client. Without this consent, the therapist is opening themselves up to an unwanted ethical dilemma. A psychologist has a responsibility to try to understand a clients personal crisis and what the client is coping with, however spying on the clients just because you can is inappropriate. However, it is the therapist responsibility to determine whether a real concern for his/her safety, however in most other cases it’s not advised or appropriate. This would assist the therapist from “jumping to different conclusions.”
References
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017).
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
Bettergarcia, J. (2021). Therapy/Therapist bias. In A. E. Goldberg, & G. Beemyn (Eds.),
The SAGE encyclopedia of trans studies. Sage Publications. Credo Reference:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/ashford.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fsagetrans%2Ftherapy_therapist_bias%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D3165Links to an external site.
Bias. (2009). In A. S. Reber, R. Allen, & E. S. Reber,
The Penguin dictionary of psychology (4th ed.). Penguin. Credo Reference:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/ashford.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fpenguinpsyc%2Fbias%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D3165
In your responses, evaluate the recommendations suggested by your peer. State whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s recommendation to the doctor on how to proceed. Suggest other ethical implications your peer may not have considered in this case. What follow up questions might you ask your peer to aid in the ethical assessment of the case? In addition to the suggestions provided by your peer, what recommendations might you make to the doctor so that he or she might avoid these types of dilemmas in the future? What additions or changes might you make to the policy or policies suggested by your peer?
2nd Peer
In your initial post, assume the role of a colleague to the doctor named and analyze the ethical issues encountered in your chosen case.
The situation that will be discussed is with Dr. Arnold. Dr. Arnold is a psychologist that has a main focus on helping children and adolescence. The psychologist at times, does provide assistance consultation with juvenile court in specifically in high level cases. The current situation in the case study, explain of a patient who is being evaluated by Dr. Arnold, and this patient was a 15 year old male that has had previous history of destructive behavior, cyberstalking, aggression, and aggressive outburst. After Dr. Arnold, was aware of the situation and before actually engaging with said patient the doctor decided, for personal reason which they felt unsafe, and ended up using patient private information such as their name to look up their social media page. Dr. Arnold is in debate with actually looking at patient’s social network.
Given the situation described in the case study, recommend how your colleague should proceed. Provide support for your response by citing the required articles for this discussion.
The ethical dilemma occurred with Dr. Arnold about using social media to find information about a client. According to Asay and Lal (2014), there is about 72.5 percent, of professionals are concerned with ethical implications with clients and social networking sites. With a high percentage of problems, the best solution would not be to go on to it, and contact a supervisor regarding the situation, just to be informed what happen and not just the way they feel about this case. Then the supervisor can have them work on a different case due to the concerns.
Consider the current and potential actions of your colleague and explain whether or not he or she is currently, or potentially will be, in violation of the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Provide support for your explanation by citing
Standard 3: Human Relations Links to an external site.
Links to an external site.
in the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
The ethical issue that did occur with Dr. Arnold was 3.01 Unfair Discrimination. This is when according to APA (2010), when a professional psychologist engages in unfair discrimination, whether it is based on age, gender, race, culture, socioeconomic status, or basis through the law, that they engage in. As well as 3.06 conflict of interest, professionally, by means to expose a client to cause harm or exploitation.
Explain how your colleague might avoid this type of ethical dilemma in the future. Describe what policy or policies you might put in place if you were your colleague.
To be able to avoid this ethical dilemma, I would be to contact the supervisor immediately once they felt unsafe. As a professional yes, it is important to take on cases and be unbiased however if there are cases that make the professional feel uneasy for any reason it is important to address it with the supervisor. To help resolve the issue that occurred, I would recommend 1.02 of APA (2010). This indicates that the professional takes responsibility for the ethical conflict and clarifies the reasons, and follows the steps in order to have any resolution within the general principles and ethical standards.
References
American Psychological Association. (2010).
Standard 3:
Human relations Links to an external site. Links to an external site.
. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=6Links to an external site.
Asay, P. A., & Lal, A. (2014).
Who’s Googled whom? Trainees’ internet and online social networking experiences, behaviors, and attitudes with clients and supervisors Links to an external site. Links to an external site.
.
Training and Education in Professional Psychology 8(2), 105-111. doi: 10.1037/tep0000035
In your responses, evaluate the recommendations suggested by your peer. State whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s recommendation to the doctor on how to proceed. Suggest other ethical implications your peer may not have considered in this case. What follow up questions might you ask your peer to aid in the ethical assessment of the case? In addition to the suggestions provided by your peer, what recommendations might you make to the doctor so that he or she might avoid these types of dilemmas in the future? What additions or changes might you make to the policy or policies suggested by your peer?
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