Ethical Dimensions of Psychotherapy: A Personal Perspective

Ethical issues within psychotherapy are reviewed from the perspective of a fifty-year practice experience. The increased interest in these issues is noted and some reasons suggested. Misuse of the power inherent in the therapist’s role for sexual, financial, and psychopathological satisfaction can give rise to ethical derelictions. The shift from a two-party to a three-party payment system and the effects of managed care have raised questions, with ethical implications, about confidentiality, and the scope, efficacy, and medicality of psychotherapy.