Table Of ContentETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
AND THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONS
ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
AND THE MENTAL HEALTH
PROFESSIONS
Standards and Cases
Fourth Edition
GERALD P. KOOCHER
Dean, College of Science and Health, DePaul University
PATRICIA KEITH-SPIEGEL
Voran Honors Distinguished Professor of Social
and Behavioral Sciences (Emerita), Ball State University
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koocher, Gerald P.
Ethics in psychology and the mental health professions: standards and cases / Gerald P. Koocher, Dean,
College of Science and Health, DePaul University, Patricia Keith-Spiegel, Voran Honors Distinguished
Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Emerita), Ball State University.—Fourth Edition.
pages cm
Revised edition of the authors’ Ethics in psychology and the mental health professions, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-995769-9 (hb : alk. paper)
1. Psychologists—Professional ethics. 2. Psychology—Research—Moral and ethical aspects.
3. Psychology—Study and teaching—Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Psychology—Standards.
I. Keith-Spiegel, Patricia. II. Title.
BF76.4.K46 2016
174′.915—dc23
201501957
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To our colleagues who have the courage to consistently uphold
ethical standards and who teach them to their students.
Contents
Preface ix 10 Relationships With Colleagues,
Acknowledgments xv Supervisees, Students, and
Employees 313
1 On Being Ethical 1
11 Self-Promotion in the Age of Electronic
2 Competence: Personal Fitness, Media 349
Qualifications, and Training Issues 19
12 The Mental Health Business: Money
3 Psychotherapy I: Ethical Obligations and Managed Care 397
of Psychotherapists 59
13 Mental Health Practitioners in the Legal
4 Psychotherapy II: Ethical Issues in System: Tort and Retort 429
Psychotherapeutic Techniques
14 Mental Health Professionals in
and Related Controversies 85
Academia 459
5 Ethical Challenges in Working With
15 Challenging Work Settings: Juggling
Human Diversity 123
Porcupines 491
6 Confidentiality, Privacy, and Record
16 Scholarly Publications and the
Keeping 145
Responsible Conduct of Research 525
7 Psychological Assessment: Testing
17 Making Ethical Decisions and Taking
Tribulations 193
Action 567
8 Nonsexual Multiple-Role
18 Ethics Codes, Regulations,
Relationships 233
and Enforcements 605
9 Attraction, Romance, and Sexual
Intimacies With Clients Index 637
and Subordinates 275
Preface
It seems bewildering that individuals in govern- payout to date. Other pharma giants caught
ment agencies, corporations, academia, reli- up in bribery, misrepresentation, or data
gious institutions, and other entities responsible fraud include Takeda, Merck, Pfizer, and
for the well-being and safety of our citizens Abbot (Sukhija, 2013).
should engage in acts that ultimately destroy Jeanette M. Boxill, a philosophy lecturer and
their careers or dishonor everything they or former academic athletic counselor at the
their employers vowed to stand for. Sadly, it is University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
not difficult to generate unsettling accounts of played a key role in steering athletes in need
deceiving the public trust, leading to an impres- of maintaining eligibility requirements into
sion that our moral compass has spun out of fake classes and allowing passable grades
control. Here are just a few examples: for little or no work and then obstructing
attempts to uncover the practices. Although
Pharmaceutical giants spend billions of dol-
many others were implemented in a practice
lars every year for allegations of data mis-
that spanned over many years, Boxhill stands
representation, fraud, promoting drugs for
out because she also directed the university’s
conditions beyond those for which they were
Parr Center for Ethics (Wolverton, 2014).
licensed, withholding safety data, bribery,
and corruption. In 2013, GlaxoSmithKline At least 35 United States Armed Forces vet-
pled guilty to three criminal counts for pro- erans died while awaiting care at a Veterans
moting drugs for unapproved uses and failing Affairs (VA) hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.
to report safety data warnings to the Federal An internal audit of VA facilities discovered
Drug Administration. The company paid $3 at least 120,000 veterans were either wait-
billion in fines, the largest pharmaceutical ing for appointments or were never seen.
