Importance of Initial Consultation and Ethical Issues Facing the Therapist

IntroductionThis publisher discusses why the sign denotation is so all important(p) and what accompanimentors an honest healer will cover in this aspect of the therapy process. It also tackles the good issues besetting a healer in the conduct of his profession dealing with psych separateapeutic counselor-at-law and hypn separateapy and centering skills. The role of a healer in the demeanor alteration of his or her leaf node is so vital that it is necessary to observe many good considerations in the praxis of his profession.Importance of sign reference pointAn sign cite is the premier(prenominal) of the defends of psychotherapy and generally includes a discussion of the reasons as to why the customer is seeking psychotherapy help and what he is hoping to make from the experience. Why it is important is because it provides an opportunity to risk out whether the needs, interests, and goals of the thickening scene with the skills of the healer. This stage a lso provides the initial clarification or so the limits of confidentiality, therapeutic approach, and other terms of professional services. Moreover, the initial consultation helps both the leaf node and the healer to gauge whether each is likely to be able to work with the other successfully (Plante, 2011). The importance of initial consultation is also found in making a formal determination of the invitees outburst for a psychotherapeutic relationship and potential for meaningful change (Klonoff, 2010). Whilst advised consent is shown as important in the therapy process, with a clear rendering of the limits of confidentiality, full informed consent to give-and-take has been mandated by honourable guidelines. If for example, a client approaches a therapist for initial consultation, informed consent to treatment may involve information on behavioural therapies demonstrating effectiveness and speedy changes in the treatment of the behavioral problem that the client is compl aining about (e.g. panic) (Weiner and Hess, 2006).Further, initial consultation is important because it is where a range of decisions argon in terms of whether to schedule a second sitting. For example, the client may judge whether it is adequate to provoke his or her needs be met by working with the therapist, as well as whether the practical terms of the therapy ar pleasant to the client. In addition, considering the information thus provided during the consultation session, the therapist may discover whether he or she possesses the needed expertise to work effectively and successfully with the client (Klonoff, 2010). other importance of initial consultation is that it allows initiating a cooperative relationship in the midst of the client and the therapist and evaluating initial consultation efforts. If the therapist happens to assess a need for consultation services, then the entry stage would then initiate a consulting relationship. The value of initial consultation is seen in the establishment of a voluntary and collaborative consulting relationship between the counselor and the client. Different role expectations can lead to resistance on the social occasion of the client, which thus necessitates a vital importance of agreement relating to role expectations to visit such(prenominal)(prenominal) potential resistance. An initial step in evaluating a clients condition is establishing an accurate diagnosis, which is done during the initial consultation (Boylan et al., 2011). close to(prenominal) as the above are important for conducting an initial consultation, it is also because such consultation may potentially lead the client not to endure get ahead services. The client may come to a decision that the therapist, for some reason, cannot adequately meet his or her needs. For example, he or she may find the therapist as being too direct, aloof, expensive, inexperienced, young, old, etc., and thus may terminate that the therapists qualities ar e not fit to his or her needs. The client may also feel better after the initial consultation and may no longer feel compelled to continue further sessions. Similarly, the therapist may decline from providing continued services for a variety of reasons, such as the clients revelation of an alcohol problem, about which the therapist expertness decide to refer him or her instead to a specializer in the treatment of problems relating to substance abuse (Plante, 2011).Alternatively, there are measure that patients are referred by their physician right after discharge from an yardbird rehabilitation setting. Of note, the one seeking therapy for the patient is in fact not the patient himself but the patients family. Perceptive health compassionate professionals are the ones who usually recognise a need for psychotherapy by the patient, with an emphasis on coping, psychoeducation, and deficit adjustment. Therefore, it mustiness not always be assumed that it is the client who is motiv ated to seek psychotherapy (Klonoff, 2010). In cases of patients being considered for psychotherapy, a physicians referral is needed, in which relevant medical records must be acquired to determine whether the patient is appropriate for therapy as well as whether he or she anticipates potential psychotherapeutic needs and challenges. It is during the initial consultation in which records are presented after being obtained and reviewed in advance in order for the therapist to thoroughly understand what the client has gone by dint of or is going through (Klonoff, 2010).Therefore, without the initial consultation, psychotherapeutic intervention might not be sufficient and effective enough.Ethical issues confront by therapistsThe psychotherapist is guided by ethical standards and codes that provide professional standards aimed at guiding their ethical conduct (Kohlenberg and Tsai, 2007). One ethical issue searchd by a therapist in terms of initial consultation is whether to provide th e consultation free of charge to the client, as some clients who have taken up this offer tended to decide to continue in centering because of being obliged to do so. This would prompt a concern whether the therapist has violated any portion of the code of ethics (Welfel, 2013). There are some who do not charge for initial consultations, and it is important that the client is informed whether the therapist does or does not charge for the first session (Wheeler, 2014). A potential problem may succeed with the use of a free initial consultation. This is because clients may feel committed after the initial consultation and may have difficulty declining further treatment because the initial consultation was free of charge. Some might up to now regard this practice as taking advantage of clients and may perhaps be seen as undue influence mentioned in the code of ethics (Welfel, 2013).Another ethical issue that may ensue during initial consultation is intimate love between the client and the therapist, which is identified as a point of accumulation ethical issue (Houser et al., 2006). The client may have emotional or sex-related problems that he/she initially presents to the therapist, which the therapist must approach objectively. Albeit discussion of these feelings can shelter therapeutic progress, it is still unethical and counter-therapeutic to act on them. Even when it may seem sound to become familiar with a client with sexual problems as an intervention, engaging in such unethical activity is unimpeachably against established ethical standards and codes. Rather, the best intervention that the therapist may admit for his/her client with sexual problems is sex therapy with the client and a significant other.The several(prenominal) malpractice suits filed against therapists relating to sexual relationships with their client only confirm the unethical and counter-therapeutic stance of sexual relationship between the therapist and client (Kohlenberg and Tsai, 2007). Even at the onslaught of the initial consultation, sexual attraction may already spark, which the therapist, being the more(prenominal) responsible person, must put a wall against.Emotional monocracy is also a common ethical issue that may go even during an initial consultation. It is a term describing abuse of power by psychotherapists to the disadvantage of their clients, caused by the power imbalance between them. For example, during the initial consultation, the therapists power is seen in how he establishes the therapy session, how long the session should last, how a lot he and the client should meet, how much the session costs, and what the permissible and impermissible behaviour must be within the session (Kohlenberg and Tsai, 2007). The realm of ethical decision-making involves the aspects of ethical predicament, the client and the therapists value, race, gender, personal history, etc. local and subject area laws professional manageledge and codes of e thics (Houser et al., 2006).The therapist may also face violations relating to dual relationships. Such relationships are nonsexual that may involve counseling a friend, relative, or neighbour, as well as receiving referrals from people who know the client and the counseling process. An ethical dilemma of dual relationships may potentially occur when the therapist has several roles with a client in that aside from being a client, the person is also a friend, a neighbor, a relative, etc. to the therapist. It has been suggested that accepting referrals from existing clients may constitute a boundary violation (Houser et al., 2006). Indeed, even at the initial consultation, the therapist is already face-to-face with the issue of whether to continue with the professional relationship, or terminate it right extraneous upon seeing his or her friend across the table as a client seeking therapy.Self-disclosure is another ethical issue besetting the therapist. Even during the initial consu ltation, the issue of self-disclosure may occur. Relating to this issue, it is important to determine the extent of information a therapist should share with the client and the types of self-disclosure to be made as well. Another example of ethical issue involving boundary is socialising with a client outside the counseling session and negotiating for fees (Houser et al., 2006).One possible ethical dilemma facing the therapist during is confidentiality, which deals with maintaining privacy and non-disclosure of information to others outside the counseling relationship, unless the client deportes consent to do so (Jenkins, 2007 Houser et al., 2006). Whenever the client enters the counseling room for the first time, he or she already expects that anything being discussed with the therapist would be unplowed confidential. It has been found that violations of confidentiality were a common complaint made against therapists and counselors. The client, even in the initial consultation, a lready begins disclosing some personal matters to the therapist, which the therapist is expected to keep confidential as his legal duty. Of important note however is the fact that confidentiality is not absolute and that there are times in which the therapist may divulge certain information a necessary (Corey, 2013 Houser et al., 2006). Examples of these are those surrounding harm that may involve the client who is contemplating about self-destruction or is expressing thoughts about inflicting harm to others court-involved clients child abuse reports and clients with medical conditions who express engaging in precarious acts relating to their condition (e.g. HIV) (Houser et al., 2006).Further, it was found that successful outcomes ensue when clients change their personal values and take a close parity of that of the therapist/counselor. A relevant ethical dilemma with regard to this is in order for the counseling to be successful, how similar the clients values must be to the cou nselor. Moreover, another dilemma is whether fostering such similitude is ethical and helpful enough to the client. A question for the profession is whether therapists enforce moral and ethical frameworks reflecting societys norms as the only backside of their ethical decision-making, or whether therapists come to an ethical decision whilst taking into composition the values, morality, and ethical stances of their diverse client population (ODonohue and Fisher, 2009 Houser et al., 2006). These issues are being dealt with even upon an initial consultation.ConclusionThis paper dealt with the importance of initial consultation and the ethical issues facing the therapist in the motion of his profession. An initial consultation is important because it forms the basis of the clients diagnosis. It generally covers finding out the reasons as to why the client seeks help and what he or she aims to obtain as a result of the psychotherapy experience.The ethical issues faced by the therapi st in the conduct of his profession during the initial consultation are those involving a decision to charge the client for a specific fee or not for the initial consultation potential sexual attraction between them the issue of confidentiality and client consent emotional tyranny violations relating to dual relationships and self-disclosure. Having situated down these ethical factors besetting a therapist, the conclusion being arrived at is that the therapist is bound by set standards and ethical codes through which the expected functions of his performance must be based, and that he/she should conduct the initial consultation and further sessions objectively.ReferencesBoylan, J. C., Malley, P. B/, and Reilly, E. P. 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