A comprehensive review of the literature on ethical decision-making models in counseling is presented, beginning in the fall of 1984 through the summer of 1998. (Materials "in press" were considered.) A general overview of the literature is provided. Theoretically or philosophically based, practice-based, and specialty-relevant approaches are surveyed. The literature is rich with publications describing decision-making models, although few models have been assessed empirically, and few models seem well grounded philosophically or theoretically.
Social constructivism is defined as an intellectual movement in the mental health field that directs a social consensual inter pretation of reality. A social constructivism approach redefines the ethical decision-making process as an interactive rather than an individual or intrapsychic process. The process involves negotiating, consensualizing, and, when necessary, arbitrating. Counselors are guided by social and cultural factors in defining what is acceptable ethical practice.
In this investigation of the construct of empathy, the authors report that the literature reflects strong evidence that empathy is an essential component of the therapeutic alliance across theories and that empathy is necessary in the counseling process. The concept of empathy continues to be a central component of new forms of counseling and therapy.
This article revisits the criteria outlined for definition of "paradigms" of counseling and psychotherapy. It defines the emergence of social constructivism as a philosophy with implications for counseling and psychotherapy. It delimits social constructivism by proposing several social constructivist tenets. Social constructivism is assessed against paradigm criteria, and an opinion is offered as to whether social constructivism represents a paradigm of counseling and psychotherapy. Implications of the paradigm analysis for the practice of mental health counseling are outlined.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.