Review of Ethical Issues in Family Therapy.

In couple and family therapy, the focus is on relationships, interactions, and the dynamics within the system. The therapist should strive to maintain a balanced and trustful relationship with all members of the system, and at the same time do justice to their individual wishes and perspectives. Couples and families usually present themselves with conflicts of interest that they have failed to resolve. Dealing with conflicts of interest is therefore an important element of couple and family therapy. The existing ethical guidelines, defined by psychological professional associations and medical ethics experts, are not specific enough at representing the complexities which family and couple therapists are confronted with. As an alternative to the ethical guidelines, Beauchamp and Childress (2008) have worked out general ethical principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. In this chapter, a number of ethical problems in couple and family therapy are discussed against the backdrop of these principles. Problems in family and couple therapy can be addressed based on the question who of the system members carries more blame and who can execute more control. Four models of help, i.e., the medical model, the compensatory model, the enlightenment model, and the moral model, are presented with regard to this question. Finally, it is argued that ethical issues in couple and family therapy are relational and context-dependent. They must therefore be resolved in the encounter with each other.

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Contemporary and Emerging Ethical Issues in Family Therapy

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy ◽

10.1002/anzf.1121 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 467-479 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Lorna L. Hecker ◽

Megan J. Murphy

Keyword(s):

Family Therapy ◽

Ethical Issues

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Marriage and Family Therapy Research: Ethical Issues and Guidelines

American Journal of Family Therapy ◽

10.1080/01926180126081 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bryndl E. Hohmann-Marriott

Keyword(s):

Family Therapy ◽

Marriage And Family Therapy ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Marriage And Family ◽

Family Therapy Research

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Ethical issues facing school psychologists in family therapy: A commentary.

Professional School Psychology ◽

10.1037/h0090593 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 265-271

Author(s):

Galen Alessi

Keyword(s):

Family Therapy ◽

School Psychologists ◽

Ethical Issues

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Ethical Issues in Work with Families: On Facing the Music or Not “Turning a Blind Eye”

Couple and Family Psychoanalysis ◽

10.33212/cfp.v5n2.2015.133 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Sally Box

Keyword(s):

Family Therapy ◽

Local Community ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Close Contact ◽

Good Practice ◽

Preventive Services ◽

Frame Of Reference ◽

Psychoanalytic Approach ◽

Teachers And Parents ◽

Principles Of Good Practice

This paper is about ethical issues that arise in different sorts of work with families. The particular focus is on a recently established schools project run by a small charity in which therapists apply a psychoanalytic approach to the work with children, teachers, and parents in a local community. Distinguishing between this kind of “psychotherapy with families” and more formal family therapy, I suggest that, in both cases, ethical issues are closely related to principles of good practice, such as proper boundaries, confidentiality, and containment, but that in this deprived community situation, these principles appear to clash with therapists' critical concerns about the already prevailing danger of “turning a blind eye” to unacceptable conditions of deprivation, abuse, and violence. Where the loss of traditional preventive services combines with a culture of apathy and helplessness, the therapist in close contact with child and/or parents may be the only one in a position to register a serious need for something to be done. What must they do? Practice and ethical issues require to be thought about anew, while remaining within the therapists' analytic frame of reference.

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