Toward a professional code for psychological consultants.

Abstract

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.

Some professional problems of the consulting psychologist.

“…A number of the matters discussed are concerned with the problems of professional ethics, and although several articles have recently appeared concerning-the matter of ethics [4,5,6], certain of the problems raised in this report do not seem to have received attention elsewhere. The matter of publicity, for example, certainly seems worthy of study.…”

The Lessons of the Development of the First APA Ethics Code: Blending Science, Practice, and Politics

“…Sutich (1944) wrote a lengthy article describing a proposed code for counseling and consulting relationships as a starting point in the process. This code was based on democratic ideals and appears to have evolved out of the nondirective revolution occurring in counseling, best embodied in the writings of Carl Rogers.…”

The field of clinical psychology: Past, present, and future

“…The problems of clinical psychology are intrinsically similar to those of clinical medicine and our profession should study existing codes before adopting its own. Sutich (7) has recently outlined a code of ethics for psychological consultants which is a step in the right direction but whose usefulness is impaired by its introduction of ideological considerations which seem extraneous to ethics. Codes of professional ethics should concern themselves with general rules of conduct involving (a) the obligations of the clinician to the patient, (b) to other clinicians, and (c) to the general public, without becoming involved in the methodology of any particular school or with political philosophies.…”