Every condition of life as it moves toward coherent organization, develops its own ethos, its own standards and codes.-John Dewey.TNSYCHOLOGISTS who enter into consulting relationships with J[ clients-and such relationships are becoming more and more frequent-are necessarily concerned with a problem in applied ethics,.whether recognized as such or not. Indeed, the satisfaction of those psychological needs for which the consulting relationship is established depends, in part, upon a clear understanding, by both client and consultant, of the ethical aspects of the relationship. The present paper seeks to make explicit the ethical basis of certain procedures found to be desirable in dealing with clients and to outline in formal fashion a professional code derived from these ethical principles for use by psychological consultants.The medical, legal, and several other professions have adopted written professional codes (6; 17), and some of them have been in operation for decades. But no criticism of psychological consultants is necessarily implied in this fact, since in every professional field a certain minimal stage of development has to be reached before the construction and adoption of a code is feasible. We believe that this minimal point has been reached.Recent trends in the practice of consulting and counseling psychology suggest the direction in which progress in the construction of a code might most profitably be made. Such "directive" tech-1 The writer is deeply indebted to Dr. E. R. Hilgard of Stanford University, California, without whose initial and continued encouragement, generous criticism, suggestions, and discussions, this paper could not have been written.