Ethical Dilemmas in Psychotherapy: Positive Approaches to Decision Making

Samuel J. Knapp, EdD, ABPP, has been the director of professional affairs for the Pennsylvania Psychological Association since 1987. He also teaches ethics in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and in the graduate program in counseling psychology at Lehigh University. Dr. Knapp is board certified in counseling psychology and is a fellow of APA Division 31 (State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs). He served as a member of the task force responsible for rewriting the 2002 APA "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct" and received the first award for ethics education from the APA Ethics Committee. Dr. Knapp has written about 100 peer reviewed articles, made more than 300 professional presentations — mostly on ethics — and written or edited 16 books, including, with Leon VandeCreek, Practical Ethics for Psychologists: A Positive Approach (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2012), now in its second edition. He was the lead author of the second edition of Assessing and Managing Risk in Psychological Practice: An Individualized Approach (Knapp, Younggren, VandeCreek, Harris, & Martin, 2013) and was editor-in-chief of the APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology.

Michael C. Gottlieb, PhD, ABPP, practices forensic psychology in Dallas, Texas, and consults on a nationwide basis. He is a clinical professor at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he teaches professional ethics and family systems therapy. Dr. Gottlieb is board certified in family psychology (American Board of Professional Psychology) and is a fellow of the American Psychology/Law Society and four other APA divisions. He has completed terms on APA's Ethics Committee and its Committee on Professional Practice and Standards. An active scholar, Dr. Gottlieb has written or cowritten 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and was an associate editor of the APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology.

Mitchell M. Handelsman, PhD, has been on the faculty of the University of Colorado Denver since 1982, where he is now a professor of psychology and a CU President's Teaching Scholar. He is a nationally acclaimed educator who has won awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and APA Division 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology), of which he is a fellow. He has served on ethics committees for several hospitals and professional associations, and has chaired the ethics committees of Rose Medical Center in Denver and the Colorado Psychological Association. Dr. Handelsman served for a year in Washington, DC, as an APA Congressional Science Fellow. He is an associate editor of the APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology and the coauthor, with Sharon K. Anderson, of Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors: A Proactive Approach. Overall, Dr. Handelsman has more than 50 refereed publications, more than 10 book chapters, and more than 160 professional presentations.

Preface

Introduction: Problem, Pitfalls, and Potentials

I. Three Models for Addressing Complex Ethical Situations

1. What Makes Ethical Choices so Hard?
2. The Ethical Decision-Making Model
3. The Quality Enhancement Model
4. The Ethics Acculturation Model

II. Applications of the Three Models

1. Professional Competence
2. Boundary Issues
3. Informed Consent
4. General Beneficence With Dangerous Patients
5. Social Justice

Afterword

References

Index

About the Authors