EPPP Ethics Questions And Answers With Verified Solutions

A client you have been seeing for two months suddenly informs you that this will be his last session. You believe this is not a good time for the client to stop therapy and are concerned about the potential negative consequences of doing so. You should: A allow the client to quit. B provide the client with appropriate referrals. C discuss with him the reasons you believe he should continue and recommend that he re-think his decision. D inform him that you are not responsible for any negative consequence of terminating prematurely. - Answer-c. CORRECT This is the best response of those given. In this situation, the therapist would want to discuss the possible risks of terminating therapy at this time and encourage the client to re-think his decision. Although the action described in answer b would also be important, it should follow a discussion about the possible consequences of leaving. A psychologist conducts a custody evaluation for a divorce proceeding. In terms of making a specific recommendation about custody, the psychologist should: A avoid making a recommendation and, instead, leave the final decision to the court. B make a recommendation only if the assessment has involved procedures that have been validated for this purpose. C make a recommendation only if he/she was not retained by one of the parents but was retained by the court. Dmake a recommendation only if it is based on adequate psychological data and consideration of the best interests of the child. -Answer-d. CORRECT This is the closest to the provisions of APA's Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluations in Family Law Proceedings. There are no prohibitions against making recommendations in custody situations. However, a psychologist must always be very careful about recommendations that may have an important impact on the lives of others. A psychologist is hired by a defense attorney to evaluate a defendant to determine the appropriateness of the insanity defense. During the first meeting with the defendant, the psychologist explains the purpose of the evaluation. The defendant says he doesn't want to cooperate with the evaluation because of the limits on confidentiality. The psychologist should: A obtain a court order before evaluating the defendant. B obtain as much information from the defendant as possible and explain to the court why the evaluation is not complete. C explain to the defendant that privilege is waived in this situation and that the evaluation is in his best interests. D postpone the evaluation and notify the defense attorney of the defendant's concerns. -Answer-d. CORRECT This response is most consistent with "common sense" and with the provisions of Paragraph 6.03.01 of the Specialty Guidelines. A psychologist is working in the employee assistance program (EAP) of a large corporation. She is approached by a supervisor who referred an employee to the EAP several weeks ago when the employee was having problems at home that began interfering with her job performance. The employer now wants to know if the employee has been receiving counseling from the psychologist and, if so, how the sessions are going. In fact, the employee has seen the psychologist four times and has another session scheduled for the next week. The psychologist should: Ainform the supervisor that she has seen the employee but provide no information about the employee's treatment. B inform the supervisor that she has seen the employee and provide a summary of the employee's progress with regard to the reason for the referral. C remind the supervisor of the need to maintain confidentiality and provide him with no information about the emp -Answer-c. CORRECT The confidentiality of clients of EAPs may be breached only in legally defined situations - e.g., when the client signs a release or is believed to be a danger to him/herself or others. Therefore, the psychologist would not even want to say anything that indicates whether or not she is seeing the employee (answer d). A therapist has been seeing a couple for several weeks. Although they seem reluctant to bring in their 13 year old daughter, the therapist finally convinces them that the problems they have been experiencing seem to be related to their daughter and that it would be good to include her in therapy sessions. It soon becomes clear that the girl has been sexually abused by her father. When the therapist confronts the man about this, he admits that he molested his daughter on two occasions but says that he has not done so in over a year. The girl confirms that this is true. The parents plead with the therapist not to make a report to the authorities and promise that they will continue in treatment to make sure that the father doesn't sexually abuse the girl again. The therapist decides to comply with the wishes of the parents since the abuse occurred in the past and the family is apparently committed to obtaining psycholog - Answer-c. CORRECT The psychologist's failure to make a child abuse report in this situation violates ethical and legal requirements. A woman calls you asking for information about her son who is a current client of yours. You have been seeing the son in individual therapy since he was 17. He is now 18-1/2 and has just started college. This mother is paying for her son's therapy. You should: A provide the woman with the information she has requested about her son. B provide the woman only with information that is relevant to the purpose of her request. C provide the woman only with that part of the record that pertains to her son before he turned 18. Dprovide the woman with information only with the permission of her son. -Answer-D provide the woman with information only with the permission of her son. d. CORRECT Since the son has reached the age of majority, his mother's right to access to his records has ceased, and his permission is required to provide her with any information from his records. According to the APA's General Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services, the term "psychological services" applies to all of the following except: A administration and scoring of psychological tests. B teaching psychology at a university. C supervising delivery of psychological services. D conducting psychotherapy in private practice. -Answer-b. CORRECT As noted above, this activity is not defined as a psychological service.