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Ethical dilemmas are parallel situations that demand an individual to take one side and leave the other. Whichever side one take, there is a moral conflict that is ensued. The two choices carry almost the same weight. Laws of a country may sometimes conflict with the moral and ethical standards creating a legal conflict in Professional Psychology.
Professional psychology has many hard tussles and complexities distinguishing it from other branches of psychology. The patient client and the medics have an obligation to one another, to abide by the set guidelines and binding laws stipulated by the association representing the American psychologists.
A dilemma can arise when a professional psychologist is faced with a case of woman client who has conceived after being raped. Rape is an atrocity violating human rights and there is no where in the world where it is allowed.
The woman is carrying a pregnancy she did wish to have and it was forced into her, the psychologist is faced with the dilemma when advising the mother on whether the conceived fetus has rights and in any case it has, then how do the rights of the traumatized mother is to be balanced against the right of the fetus.
If the mother is advised to carry an abortion, then ethical issues about abortion will arise, some will argue the fetus is living hence abortion is murder.
If the mother is advised to keep the pregnancy, some experts will argue that this will be a source of trauma and psychological torture to the mother and the fetus has no right to be there, as it is a product of violence. This gives the mother the right to terminate it if she wishes to rid herself this ugly scar of rape.
Some rape victims might end up being mentally unstable posing dangers to members of the society. Rape, consumes most of the humane nature of humans rendering the victims to be merciless and thus are capable of harming members of the society. Most rape victims do not want to be known by the members of the society and thus hard do identify them.
When such victims becomes mentally disturbed and does not want people to know the psychologist, is caught in a dilemma of, to both observe the anonymity norm and keep quite or notify members of the public especially family members, and in the process violating professional ethics.
Another result might be that if the pregnancy is not terminated, then the mother will most likely become mentally disturbed and might result in violence. Either decision carries a repercussion with it.
However, there are conventionally agreed steps to follow in order for the judgment to be as objective as possible. These steps are many and vary with the situation at hand thus some need a form of adaptation in order to conform to the situation given.
The first step the psychologist will do is to anticipate the various people who will be affected by the preferred advice to the client. We exist in a society and every society has norms and culture. It is good to first understand the client’s society, the way rape is viewed compared to abortion. How the value of human life is safeguarded and whether the fetus is regarded as human life.
Another action to be taken by the psychologist is to first categorize and single out the circumstance that requires ethical deliberation and quick resolution making. A cruel act of rape was committed to the client and might lead to mental disorder, however aborting the fetus, assuming the fetus as a person, will be committing similar cruelty.
Not getting rid of the rape conceived pregnancy will be like continuing the atrocity to the client and the intention to relieve the client the pregnancy will not necessarily be morally and ethically right. Good intentions do not make a morally bad act good. Having this in mind, it will be easy to weigh the options.
It is also advisable to clearly distinguish the client. Whether it is the person being addressed as having been raped or is it the person paying the fees. Is loyalty to be accorded the person paying the fees or the client herself? The mother might be pressured to either keep or abort the pregnancy.
It is thus very important to establish the real intentions of the client then weigh them according to ethical guidelines. The client should be the main subject instead of other factors like the person paying the fees. The source of the mental disorder should also be critically analyzed, is it the act of rape or the stigma from the society?
The psychologist must also asses his/her area of specialization, competence and of missing know how and skills including experience. This enables professional, objective decisions.
If one has handled such case of rape before with success, then it will not be hard in making the right decision. If this is the first time then it is advised to take some in analyzing the situation more and if there is another source of knowledge well versed with such cases, it will be for the best interest to consult.
The fifth step to consider is the legal standards. It is good to visit and find out what the law says about abortion, rape, right of fetus, rights of the mother and the clinicians directly or indirectly. If the laws are clear or there are ambiguous and conflicting legal standards on the raised sectors.
Whether the law support or rebuke the acts and persons mentioned. Different state has different laws especially on abortion. This will enable the clinician not to advise the rape victims to carry out illegal acts as what might be ethically right might be illegal.
Knowledge and research evolve with each day that passes. It is thus preferable that the psychologist reviews the relevant theories and credible authentic research findings. This provides a wide scope in which to address the issue from. The response and recommendations will thus follow after a rigorous research. The client will thus be satisfied and aided in the best possible way.
The eighth step to consider is personal feelings, biases and at times self interest as they might affect the psychologist’s decision. This is important as one’s conviction of what is ethically right might lead to conflict with law. The rape case will trigger more emotions in females than males.
Consideration of these factors removes one from subjective decisions to objective ones. It also removes preconceived ideas and judgments.
In the decision making, it is also crucial to apply an effect, which is if any, brought about by cultural, societal, religion or similar factors versus the ethical responses. Different societies treat rape and abortion differently. Some argue life starts at birth while others at conception. Different religions like Islam and Christianity also have varying and at times contradictory views.
Once equipped with that knowledge then the decision will be for the right problem. Another step will for the psychologist to look for possible alternatives if any from his own imagination. These alternative sources need critical evaluation. So the next step is evaluation in a critical way of the alternative courses developed.
The eventual impact one could have under the best possible way or the worst imaginable result. The risks involved, immediate and long term consequences for every party involved including the psychologist. Benefits realized to an individual and the society.
So as one to come up with the most ethical response to such a dilemma the psychologist needs to put herself/ himself in the shoes of the people who will in one way or the other be affected by his/her counsel. The question on what each person would regard as the most ethical reaction should be put across.
The compensation the less favored party would get. These questions and the psychologist’s assumption of the omniscient role will drastically shape the way the rape victim will be advised
The final step is to assemble the steps discussed above, carefully evaluating removing bias, fallacies, considering contextual situation like religion, laws and the ethical implications. A decision is now made. A decision that is clear supports, with detailed explanations the reasons for making it in a pool of thousand choices. Justice should not only be done, but there be a process to show its doing.
This decision above all should lean toward moral and ethical righteousness. It is particular and specific but its process of deliberation should be conventional and can be used to solve a similar scenario (Garber, 2008).
Ethical decision-making is very important in professional psychology. This help in the understanding of individuals’ behavioral pattern. Ethical decisions enable psychologists to successfully eliminate fallacies brought about by various subjective agencies.
These subjective agencies include language, culture, religion and environment. Most ethical rules are universal while others are particular, for example it is universally accepted that no individual should take the life of another individual, or no stealing is allowed. These provide basis for professional psychology to establish its guidelines.
Due to ethical decisions, psychologists are able to explain the various challenges faced by those who are unethically treated by others. Since rape and killing are prohibited in many societies, those who commit these atrocities tend to be affected psychologically in a certain way likewise those that fall victims to these atrocities have their own behavioral pattern.
Soldiers who go to war and are forced to commit unethical deeds tend to be psychologically affected in a certain negative way. The ethical decisions aid in the analysis of human mind and consequently those with various disorders are given the attention needed to normalize their conditions.
The ethical convictions of an individual directly or indirectly affect the decisions they make. Psychologists in professional practice study their own ethical standards before making various decisions for their clients thereby avoiding errors associated with personal feelings.
Ethical dilemmas are encountered in our day to day lives. The way we handle the dilemmas are determined by various factors making it to have a conventional way of solving them. Ethics addresses questions about morality especially the concepts such as good versus evil, right versus wrong, virtues versus voice, the justice system and so on.
There are various fields in ethics and all try to address the issue of ethical decisions. Such branches include ethics in: normative, Meta, applied, moral and descriptive. Ethical decisions and professional psychology are intertwined (Cohen, 2007).
Reference List
Cohen, M. (2007). 101 Ethical Dilemmas. Web.
Garber, P. (2008). The Ethical Dilemma. Web.
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