TY - JOUR
T1 - The responsible psychotherapist
AU - Widiger, Thomas A.
AU - Rorer, Leonard G.
PY - 1984/5
Y1 - 1984/5
N2 - Contends that psychologists in general, and psychotherapists in particular, have been concerned with both ethical and legal liability. Contracts, informed consent, and participatory decision making have been recommended as requisites for an ethical psychotherapy. However, when the various types of responsibility (role, causal, capacity, and liability) are differentiated, it becomes clear that the recommendations entail an inconsistent set of assumptions. These recommendations ignore difficulties in establishing liability. It is suggested that since there may be inherent conflicts between effective psychotherapy and the ethical recommendations that have been made, future recommendations should be relative to a particular theory of psychotherapy. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - Contends that psychologists in general, and psychotherapists in particular, have been concerned with both ethical and legal liability. Contracts, informed consent, and participatory decision making have been recommended as requisites for an ethical psychotherapy. However, when the various types of responsibility (role, causal, capacity, and liability) are differentiated, it becomes clear that the recommendations entail an inconsistent set of assumptions. These recommendations ignore difficulties in establishing liability. It is suggested that since there may be inherent conflicts between effective psychotherapy and the ethical recommendations that have been made, future recommendations should be relative to a particular theory of psychotherapy. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
KW - ethical & legal liability, psychotherapists
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0021424397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0021424397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0003-066X.39.5.503
DO - 10.1037/0003-066X.39.5.503
M3 - Article
C2 - 6742593
AN - SCOPUS:0021424397
SN - 0003-066X
VL - 39
SP - 503
EP - 515
JO - American Psychologist
JF - American Psychologist
IS - 5
ER -