Module 1 · Section 5 · Ethical Dilemma

Values in Practice

The material this exercise examines is not the client. It is the clinician, and specifically the difference between what they believe, what they do not know, and what is simply arriving unbidden.

The dilemma

A therapist who holds traditional religious values around sexuality and monogamy is working with a client who practices consensual non-monogamy and is experiencing jealousy within one of their relationships.

The therapist is not required to personally endorse the client's relationship structure. They are required to provide competent clinical care that serves the client's goals.

1Sort
2Account
3Referral
4Session
5Synthesis

Part 1 of 5

Sort what the therapist notices.

Values A moral commitment of your own that differs from the client's.

Competence Something you do not know and could learn.

Bias A reaction that is neither principled nor informational.

Assign all eight. You get one submission.

  • “I don’t know what compersion means. She used the word twice and I nodded.”

  • “I believe sexual exclusivity is part of what a committed partnership means.”

  • “I keep finding myself thinking she would be happier if she left him.”

0 of 8 assigned

References

  1. American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
  2. Canadian Psychological Association. (2017). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (4th ed.). https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/committees/ethics/codeofethics/
  3. Conley, T. D., Matsick, J. L., Moors, A. C., & Ziegler, A. (2017). Investigation of consensually nonmonogamous relationships: Theoretical, methodological, and paradigmatic approaches. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(2), 205–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616667925
  4. Kleinplatz, P. J., & Moser, C. (2005). Is SM pathological? Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 17(3–4), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.1300/J056v17n03_05
  5. Rubel, A. N., & Bogaert, A. F. (2015). Consensual nonmonogamy: Psychological well-being and relationship quality correlates. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(9), 961–982. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.942722