Ethical challenges for mental health professionals : your questions answered / by Jack P. Haynes and James Windell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haynes, Jack P., Author.

Windell, James, 1940- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mental health personnel--Professional ethics.

Mental health personnel.

Psychiatric ethics.

Ethics, Professional.

Psychiatry--ethics.

Medical Subjects:

Ethics, Professional.

Psychiatry--ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 381 pages)

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, [2026]

Summary:

"Ethical practices form the foundation of mental health work. Effective mental health practice depends on ethics that frame thinking, choices, and conduct in terms of the well-being and best interests of clients. Ethics also fosters important core practitioner characteristics of predictability, reliability, trust, and alliance. Because human behavior is complex, mental health professionals can be confronted by ethical concerns and questions, and dilemmas arise every day. Understanding these dilemmas and making effective, action-based decisions about them are essential. To address mental health ethical issues, the American Psychological Association (APA) has constructed a thorough and elaborate ethics code, as have other mental health professional organizations. This book was written to consider questions that mental health professionals often encounter but that are not covered explicitly in their codes of ethics. It also provides specific examples of ethical dilemmas that can arise, and offers ways of considering these situations with the goal of thinking and acting ethically. Throughout the 21 chapters, the book focuses on the framework of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the APA (2017a), as it is the most long-standing, elaborate, and extensive mental health ethics-related document. The selection of chapter topics and the organization of chapters are based in part on the most common and frequent ethical problems considered by licensing boards and other ethical bodies, according to research findings. Ethical practice protects the client, the practitioner, and the public in general. Keeping professional practice ethically strong is a crucial component of competence and effectiveness." --Preface (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Contents:

Introduction

Overview of ethics for mental health practitioners

Informed consent

Confidentiality

Nonsexual, nonintimate multiple relationships

Physical intimacies and exploitation

Telehealth

Mandatory reporting

Professional competencies

Assessment and ethics

Ethics and the mental health of adults

Ethical issues specific to children

Practitioner ethics and older adults

Ethical issues specific to LGBTQ+ therapy clients

Ethics and disabilities

Ethics in correctional settings

Preparing documents for court

Ethical expert witness testimony

Child custody and ethics

Ethics in special situations

Ethical decision-making models

Putting it all together

References

Index

About the authors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2026.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Other Format:

Print version: Ethical challenges for mental health professionals

ISBN:

1433844486

9781433844485

1433849984

9781433849985

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.