Legal and Ethical Considerations for Group and Family Therapy

NURS 6650 Week 1: Legal and Ethical Considerations for Group and Family Therapy Discussion Essay Assignment Paper

Therapy is typically dependent on the description of the clients and their expectations. In fact, this difference can be noted for individual and group/family therapies owing to the distinctions of their position level in community structures. All therapies apply professional psychotherapeutic principles to solve existing psychiatric and mental problems. However, unique differences exist with regards to their legal and ethical considerations (Sadock, B., Sadock, V. & Ruiz, 2014). In this respect, differences exist between individual and group/family therapy.

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There are three notable ethical differences between the two types of therapies. The first ethical difference is the professional qualifications of therapists who provide their services. On one hand, individual therapy is a general expectation for all therapists. On the other hand, group/family therapy requires that the therapist first undergo training to provide individual therapy before undergoing additional training to provide group and family therapy. This means that the therapists providing services for the two types of therapies are ethical expected to meet the different qualification expectations for practice (Wheeler, 2014). The second ethical difference is that for individual therapy, an informed consent can be expected to express the client’s true sentiments in terms of voluntarily attending the therapy. The same cannot be said for family/group therapy where the realities of social structures create the possibility of some of the members being coerced into attending the therapy. This implies that therapists providing family/group therapy must consider the possibility that some of the members may have been coerced into attending the therapy and would not participate fully or support the therapy exercises. This is particularly an issue of consideration where there are glaring power and authority differences such as children being coerced into attending family therapy by their parents (Whitaker & Cosgrove, 2015). The third ethical difference is that confidentiality would not be much of a concern in individual therapy, but that may not be the case with family/group therapy. NURS 6650 Week 1: Legal and Ethical Considerations for Group and Family Therapy Discussion Essay Assignment. That is because the members are not obligated to keep any disclosures made in the therapy sessions confidential. This is an ethical concern that therapists must consider when dealing with group/family therapies since they cannot offer any guarantees that the information that any member discloses will not be exposed outside the group (Cautin, & Lilienfeld, 2015).

In addition to the three ethical concerns that have been discussed, legal difference also exist between the two types of therapies. Firstly, therapists providing psychiatric services must be licensed and certified to provide these services. This would define their scope of practice and geographical area of operation that would typically be defined in terms of states. These licenses and certifications are periodically issued by recognized organizations after ascertaining that the individual is qualified to offer the services (Cautin, & Lilienfeld, 2015). Secondly, therapists are expected to keep all information confidential as indicated by HIPAA legislation. This means that the information can only be used under express permission of the client and for therapy purposes. Therapists who breach the legislation risk facing legal sanctions that could range from their licenses being withdrawn to fines and incarceration (Wheeler, 2014). As a result, therapists should be aware of the legal and ethical considerations when providing their services. NURS 6650 Week 1: Legal and Ethical Considerations for Group and Family Therapy Discussion Essay Assignment