This book draws on both the historical context and contemporary research evidence to present the roles of the Mental Health Social Worker, the Approved Mental Health Professional and Best Interest Assessor, within an ethical framework. Codes of practice and statutory legal requirements, such as the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and the Human Rights Act, are all considered and linked to a competency-based approach that will assist both those in training and those in practice to understand the dilemmas, complexities and conflicts that are evident in the practice environment.
This open access book offers essential information on values-based practice (VBP): the clinical skills involved, teamwork and person-centered care, links between values and evidence, and the importance of partnerships in shared decision-making. Different cultures have different values; for example, partnership in decision-making looks very different, from the highly individualized perspective of European and North American cultures to the collective and family-oriented perspectives common in South East Asia. In turn, African cultures offer yet another perspective, one that falls between these two extremes (called batho pele). The book will benefit everyone concerned with the practical challenges of delivering mental health services. Accordingly, all contributions are developed on the basis of case vignettes, and cover a range of situations in which values underlie tensions or uncertainties regarding how to proceed in clinical practice. Examples include the patient’s autonomy and best interest, the physician’s commitment to establishing high standards of clinical governance, clinical versus community best interest, institutional versus clinical interests, patients insisting on medically unsound but legal treatments etc. Thus far, VBP publications have mainly dealt with clinical scenarios involving individual values (of clinicians and patients). Our objective with this book is to develop a model of VBP that is culturally much broader in scope. As such, it offers a vital resource for mental health stakeholders in an increasingly inter-connected world. It also offers opportunities for cross-learning in values-based practice between cultures with very different clinical care traditions.
The field of ethics is expanding and has assumed new significance as a compulsory part of study for psychiatrists and all mental health professionals. Ethics and Mental Health: The Patient, Profession and Community presents a new approach to these ethical dilemmas that have become an increasing part of modern practice. The book begins by exploring current normative theories of psychiatric ethics. It describes how empirical methods can make codes of conduct more representative of professional values. Considering their previous work, concepts of justice, and the moderate communitarian position, the authors outline their methodology, which argues that mental health professionals exist within a perpetual state of tension, caused by conflicts between the Hippocratic Oath, personal values, notions of social justice, and the potentially harmful influences of their social role. Applying their theory to the area of involuntary psychiatric treatment, the authors address the context of psychiatric practice and the moral agency of psychiatrists. They outline the different influences on the craft of psychiatry to better illustrate the diverse forces that impact moral deliberation and the practice of ethics in mental health. In doing so, they cover areas as diverse as cultural, economic, scientific, and political domains. The final section of the book applies the methodology to contemporary problems in mental health ethics, formulating how mental health clinicians can approach these quandaries. The book brings a new perspective to classic dilemmas from the past, to contemporary challenges, and in anticipation, to new concerns that will inevitably arise in a dynamic and complex professional context.
Mental health is the one area of health care where people are often treated against their will, with the justification that it is in their own interest. This raises significant ethical questions and value dilemmas; questions of autonomy, human rights, power and treatment. An understanding of how values matter is of vital importance across all disciplines working within the mental health field. This book provides a comprehensive and exploratory text for practitioners, students and all those interested in developing a knowledge of both ethics and the wider framework of values-based practice. It is unique in being fully co-written by authors representing both service user and service provider perspectives. This exciting new text will enable the mental health practitioner to work more co-productively with service users within a humane and just approach to care. With an emphasis on rights-based compassionate care throughout, this book: - Tackles the issues of how mental health is understood through key theoretical debates about mental distress, values and labelling; - Encourages readers to think critically about their understanding of key issues such as recovery, autonomy, power, knowledge, diagnoses and empathy; - Draws on a wide range of case examples and exercises to help readers deepen their knowledge of values-based practice and ethics in mental health.
Is it ethical to treat a death row inmate only to stabilize him or her for eventual execution? What happens when a military provider receives highly sensitive intelligence from a client? How can clinicians refuse costly gifts from clients without damaging the therapeutic relationship? Should a therapist disclose a client's suicidal intent to the authorities? In Ethical Conundrums, Quandaries and Predicaments in Mental Health Practice, these and other real-life scenarios constitute a comprehensive and definitive ethics casebook for mental health professionals. Inspired by the many difficult situations they themselves have faced, an eminent group of accomplished mental health clinicians provide first-hand accounts of ethical problems that defy boilerplate solutions. Each chapter begins with a compelling and ethically complex case followed by an illustrative yet succinct analysis of the key ethical issues present and a personal reflection on the case itself, along with the process of ethical reasoning used to arrive at a final decision. Every case concludes with key recommendations for promoting ethical practice within an often challenging work setting. Highlighting the human aspect of ethics in mental health practice through the use of mesmerizing narratives while also provoking the reader to reflect upon what is the "right" thing to do, Ethical Conundrums, Quandaries and Predicaments in Mental Health Practice offers trainees and seasoned professionals alike invaluable informative models for dealing with ethical dilemmas, as well as the inspiration to confront seemingly insurmountable clinical problems.
Ethics and Values in Psychotherapy is an examination of the role of the therapist as ethicist and the ways in which the ethical convictions of both therapist and client contribute to the practical process of psychotherapy. As Psychotherapy strives to establish itself as a 'Profession', practitioners are increasinly focusing on the issue of ethics as they attempt to agree on guidelines and standards for professional practice. Alan Tjeltveit argues that any discussion of professional and ethical practice in psychotherapy is inadequate if carried out in ignorance of or in isolation from traditional ethical theories. He applies this approach to issues such as: * the role of therapy in society * the goals and outcomes of psychotherapy * techniques and practices * the existence and operation of values * the intellectual and social context in which therapy takes place. In the second part of the book, he uses clinical examples and case studies to relate this theoretical discussion to clinical practice. Ethics and Values in Psychotherapy will be welcomed by the growing number of experienced Psychotherapists and post-graduate students who are interested in the increasingly contentious issue of professional ethics.
Mental Health Ethics provides an overview of traditional and contemporary ethical perspectives and critically examines a range of ethical and moral challenges present in contemporary ‘psychiatric-mental’ health services.
In this 10th Anniversary text, Thomas M. Skovholt and Len Jennings paint an elaborate portrait of expert or "master" therapists. The book contains extensive qualitative research from three doctoral dissertations and an additional research study conducted over a seven-year period on the same ten master therapists. This intensive research project on master therapists, those considered the "best of the best" by their colleagues, is the most extensive research on high-level functioning of mental health professionals ever done. Therapists and counselors can use the insights gained from this book as potential guidelines for use in their own professional development. Furthermore, training programs may adopt it in an effort to develop desirable characteristics in their trainees. Featuring a brand new Preface and Epilogue, this 10th Anniversary Edition of Master Therapists revisits a landmark text in the field of counseling and therapy.
Pamphlet is a succinct statement of the ethical obligations and duties of individuals who enter the nursing profession, the profession's nonnegotiable ethical standard, and an expression of nursing's own understanding of its commitment to society. Provides a framework for nurses to use in ethical analysis and decision-making.
This book draws on both the historical context and contemporary research evidence to present the roles of the Mental Health Social Worker, the Approved Mental Health Professional and Best Interest Assessor, within an ethical framework. Codes of practice and statutory legal requirements, such as the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and the Human Rights Act, are all considered and linked to a competency-based approach that will assist both those in training and those in practice to understand the dilemmas, complexities and conflicts that are evident in the practice environment.
