Ethics Code: Multiple Relationships

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Multiple Relationships

Topic

The notion of multiple relationships in psychology, particularly in clinical psychology and counselling is of interest for researchers primarily because it presents an ethical dilemma that impacts the outcome of treatment and the profession in practice. Pope & Vetter (1992) wrote that the blurred, dual and conflicting relationships almost always finds its way into practice and it is essential for practitioners to know how to respond to them. The write - "the second most frequently described incidents involved maintaining clear, reasonable, and therapeutic boundaries around the professional relationship with a client...Taken as a whole, the incidents suggest, first, that the ethical principles need to define dual relationships more carefully and to note with clarity if and when they are therapeutically indicated or acceptable...Although it is impossible to anticipate every pattern of multiple relationship or to account for all the vicissitudes and complexities of life, psychologists need and deserve formal principles that provide lucid, useful, and practical guidance as an aid to professional judgment." The complexities of dual relationship still vex present practice and if not addressed can create issues with damaging impact for both client and practitioner.

Study Summary

I am very much interested in exploring the multiple relationships that take place in rural counselling. Rural areas are generally served by a smaller number of practitioners primarily because of the limited need that the area has. Rural communities are typically close knit, with ...