THE DILEMMA

– THE DILEMMA:
Dr. Grace Jeffery is a clinical psychologist who partly owns a private psychology practice in NSW, Australia. The practice offers a range of psychological services including psychological assessment and counseling, and Grace usually works with couples for relationship counseling. Grace does not normally handle the bookings at reception. However, today, several staff members were in session with clients booked back-to-back and the phones were ringing off the hook. So, as she was walking past she decided to answer a call. She thought her title of doctor might put people off, so instead she introduced herself by her first name only, Grace.
On the other end of the line is Adam, a 20-year-old man who immediately expresses a lot of
agitation and anger. He complains loudly about his parents and his girlfriend. A few minutes into the conversation, Grace realizes that Adam is the son of her next-door neighbors. While Adam now lives with his girlfriend in an apartment in town, she remembers him well. She even attended his high school graduation party briefly and paid him to mow her lawn for two years. During the phone call, Adam expresses some homicidal rage toward his parents, particularly in
relation to financial issues and violence perpetrated by his father. Grace thinks he should come in immediately for a more in-depth evaluation. Adam hesitated to have a face-to-face interview at the practice but agreed only if he can talk with Grace. Grace schedules him appointment for early in the evening.

This essay will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of the ethical and legal principles that guide psychologists in ethical professional conduct. You will also apply ethical decision-making processes using an ethical scenario. Ethical decision making is a core skill in the profession of psychology, and it is a skill that we have been practicing in the lab component of the current course. There are many different models that can be applied to ethical decision making. For this essay, it is less important which model you use instead the focus is on practicing the skills you have learnt in the labs using a systematic approach.

This essay consists of three parts, so make sure that you address each section.

1. In the first section you can describe why ethical decision making is important, including things such as: what guides ethical decision making, models that describe how we make ethical (or not so ethical) decisions in our professional lives and what can happen if we dont abide by ethics. Dont forget to provide evidence that supports your position (peer reviewed journal articles, edited academic books).

2. Next, you are asked to argue for why psychology needs specific ethical considerations and how the codes and guidelines have been designed to help professionals act ethically.

3. Finally, you have been asked to undertake an ethical analysis as we have been preparing you for in the labs.
Identify the ethical issues in the dilemma.
Discuss the implications of the dilemma for those involved.
Try to identify right and wrong actions for each of the persons involved and discuss alternative courses of actions that may be taken and determine the likely consequences of each proposed action.
Evaluate the arguments for each option
Discuss what does the law say? What do the guidelines say?
What are the moral and ethical principles involved?
Decide which of the identified options you would recommend or judge to be the ethically best way to deal with the issue presented in this case based upon which option has the strongest ethical reasons behind it.
Determine how a critic of your position might try to argue against it using other ethical reasons and present a rebuttal or counterargument in defence of your judgment.

Please note that this is Australian, and the plagiarism checker will be enforced

Word count:
You have a strict word limit of 1,200 words, so below are suggestions about how you might divide this into the different sections. The word limit will allow a tolerance of 10% and any work after the maximum word limit will not be included within the allocation of marks. In other words, the marker will STOP reading at that point.

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