Ethical And Legal Issues For Mental Health Professionals

Stay up-to-date on the ethical and legal issues that affect your clinical and professional decisions! Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: A Comprehensive Handbook of Principles and Standards details the ethical and legal issues that involve mental health professionals. Respected authorities with diverse backgrounds, expertise, and professional experience discuss contemporary theories emphasizing professional ethics, the ramifications of professional actions and decisions, and ethical standards on teaching, training, research, and publication. This informative handbook provides invaluable up-to-date information and guidelines vital for every mental health professional. This book is a thorough examination of ethical behavior which can be used as a reference source for the professional or a textbook for graduate students. The handbook itself is divided into five sections. The first section is a detailed introduction of ethics, law, and licensing. The second section presents general ethical principles like competence, integrity, and respect for individual rights and dignity. The third section examines confidentiality, privilege, consent, and protection. The fourth section focuses on general ethical standards in practice, including sexual contact, multiple relationships, and bartering. The fifth section presents the ethical principles and standards in teaching, training, and research. Appendices include the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 2002) and the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: A Comprehensive Handbook of Principles and Standards discusses: the history of basic approaches and issues in ethical philosophy five fundamental areas in the process of developing competence the necessary ingredients for the mental health professional’s practice of integrity aspirational versus enforceable standards of ethics concern for the welfare of others as a core ethical principle the notion of social responsibility in the ethics codes of psychologists and social workers ethical principles, statutes, and case law protecting privacy and confidentiality issues involving the therapist-patient privilege the “duty to protect” doctrine and relevant legal issues the dynamics of multiple relationships and boundary violations sexualized dual relationships between psychologists and patients possible conflict of interest in bartering for services the requirements and implementation of maintaining patient records to avoid ethical and legal problems possible ethical dilemmas involving referrals and fees much, much more This Handbook is an essential resource for all mental health professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, therapists, and graduate students in mental health and the related fields. Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: A Comprehensive Handbook of Principles and Standards is the first of three volumes under this title. The following volumes will focus on forensic settings and special populations/special treatment modalities.

The legal system's impact and influence on the mental health profession has never been greater. Whether as a witness, plaintiff, or defendant, it is likely that a professional will have some kind of interaction with the law at least once in his/her career. More than ever, it is essential that psychologists, social workers, and counselors have a working knowledge of the legal and ethical mandates to which they will be held accountable. Legal and Ethical Dimensions for Mental Health Professionals is a complete guide to the law and ethics as they relate to clinical practice. These issues can often be very confusing as values and rules change based on clients and context. For example, a school counselor who works with children is bound by different rules of confidentiality than a psychologist who counsels adults. To simplify such issues, the authors divide information into the legal and ethical rules appropriate for various types of clients in a number of settings. The book opens with an explanation of the history of law related to mental health professionals, including a description of how and why laws related to clinicians are enacted. It then focuses on the therapist-client relationship and examines the many points at which legal and ethical considerations intersect with the practice of therapy. This comprehensive look at the standards of law and ethics is essential reading for not only graduate and doctoral level students in the mental health fields, but also practicing professionals.

The legal system's impact and influence on the mental health profession has never been greater. Whether as a witness, plaintiff, or defendant, it is likely that a professional will have some kind of interaction with the law at least once in his/her career. More than ever, it is essential that psychologists, social workers, and counselors have a working knowledge of the legal and ethical mandates to which they will be held accountable. Legal and Ethical Dimensions for Mental Health Professionals is a complete guide to the law and ethics as they relate to clinical practice. These issues can often be very confusing as values and rules change based on clients and context. For example, a school counselor who works with children is bound by different rules of confidentiality than a psychologist who counsels adults. To simplify such issues, the authors divide information into the legal and ethical rules appropriate for various types of clients in a number of settings. The book opens with an explanation of the history of law related to mental health professionals, including a description of how and why laws related to clinicians are enacted. It then focuses on the therapist-client relationship and examines the many points at which legal and ethical considerations intersect with the practice of therapy. This comprehensive look at the standards of law and ethics is essential reading for not only graduate and doctoral level students in the mental health fields, but also practicing professionals.

"Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals is a guide to aid in the resolution of ethical dilemmas with legal implications. This comprehensive reference provides both the student and practicing health care professional with an overview of the ethical and legal issues that face health care providers today. The reader will better understand ethical dilemmas and learn how to evaluate and distinguish between the "rightness" and "wrongness" of alternative courses of action when faced with complicated problems to solve."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Those who work in the mental health sector are constantly exposed to personal information about the experiences, behaviour and relationships of their clients. It is therefore unsurprising that mental health professionals will sometimes need to consider whether they are ethically or legally obliged to disclose certain information to third parties. Yet how is this done? In what circumstances is a therapist, counsellor, or nurse obliged to disclose confidential information and to whom? A profession's codes of ethics or a legal text is rarely able to provide meaningful practical guidance. The authors, experienced professionals in law and mental health, have focused on the actual decision-making process of disclosing confidential information to allow mental health professionals to find a solution that is ethically and legally sound and able to be recognised as such by external authorities. The book is relevant to a wide range of professionals working in the mental health sector such as psychologists, social workers, counsellors, mental health nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and students.

The recognition of positive rights and the growing impact of human rights principles has recently orchestrated a number of reforms in mental health law, bringing increasing entitlement to an array of health services. In this book, Penelope Weller considers the relationship between human rights and mental health law, and the changing attitudes which have led to the recognition of a right to demand treatment internationally. Weller discusses the ability of those with mental health problems to use advance directives to make a choice about what treatment they receive in the future, should they still be unable to decide for themselves. Focusing on new perspectives offered by the Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Weller explores mental health law from a variety of international perspectives including: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, where policies differ depending on whether you are in England and Wales, or Scotland. These case studies indicate how human rights perspectives are shifting mental health law from a constricted focus upon treatment refusal, towards a recognition of positive rights. The book covers topics including: refusing treatment new approaches in human rights international perspectives in mental health law the right to demand treatment. The text will appeal to legal and mental health professionals as well as academics studying mental health law, and policy makers.

I. OVERVIEW Legal Issues in Mental HeaIth Care is aimed at the mental health clinician who provides services on either an inpatient or an outpatient basis. It is written for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other therapists to help them understand and manage legal issues in their daily practice. The issues covered apply to therapists who work for an agency or hospital as weil as those who work independently. The book is meant to serve as a handbook, but it also provides a quick resource as legal questions arise which are related to the obligations of the therapist. It ad dresses the legal issues that confront the clinician. It is not aimed at the clinicianwho specializes in forensie mental health issues, because the information provided does not reach that level of detail or sophistication. Nor is it aimed at the scholar, because our goal is to provide practical information in a clear and concise format. Wehave not addressed the wide array of laws protecting the mentally disabled from discrirnina tion-most notably, the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)and the Fair Housing Act. Most states also have laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, services, and housing. These issues are beyond the scope of this book because we are address ing the legal issues that arise in providing care, rather than the rights of mentally disabled persons. 11. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK The book consists of eleven chapters and a Glossary of Legal Terms.