Ethical Decision Making In Therapy: Feminist Perspectives

How can clear but abstract ethical principles be applied in the real world of therapy? What is the ethical course when two or more principles conflict? What are ethical approaches on issues not addressed in traditional professional ethics codes? This volume grapples with these and related questions and offers an innovative feminist model that acknowledges the importance of affect in ethical decision-making. Case scenarios raise ethical dilemmas typical of everyday practice and experienced feminist therapists explain how they might respond. "A major goal of this volume," write editors Rave and Larsen, "is to sensitize therapists and therapists-in-training to ethical issues affecting women and girls in therapy."

Recognizing that women still comprise the majority of clients in most therapy settings, each section of the book begins with a context-setting discussion on why the issue is important to women. Topics include:
* Labeling and diagnosis
* Money issues (including those which arise in managed health care)
* Client/therapist overlapping relationships
* Violence against women
* Health and reproductive issues
* Special concerns in treating children and older women
* Balancing therapist self-care with clients' needs

At least two therapists respond to each ethical dilemma, applying the Feminist Therapy Institute's Code of Ethics (developed in 1987) as well as traditional ethical codes of the mental health professions. The discussions offer clear and practical guidelines for recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas, encouraging readers to compare their own philosophical viewpoints and ethical approaches. Each section concludes with a discussion of implications and references.

Differences and diversity in race, ethnicity, and sexual preference are integrated throughout the scenarios and responses. The editors and contributors to this book, who are from Canada and the United States, also represent these diversities as well as a range of disciplines and professions.