Internet counseling is a type of counseling that has increased in popularity and application over the last decade. While internet counseling can be beneficial and help individuals receive help for psychological issues that they would not get in any other way, internet counseling requires the therapist to be extremely competent. As compared to face-to-face counseling, internet counseling requires greater effort and care in preserving the integrity and ethics of the therapeutic relationship.
Many ethical issues are inherent in the therapist providing online treatment to clients. Just like face-to-face counseling, the therapist still needs to worry about taking into account the client’s best interests, not doing any harm to the client, and making sure to adhere to appropriate laws and regulations that one must follow . Social workers are also bound by a strict “Code of Ethics” that states that a mental health clinician must be concerned with the following set of core values: competence, integrity, service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships .
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Internet Mental Health Issues".
One major ethical issue that surrounds internet counseling is protecting the confidentiality of the client. As stated in the Code of Ethics, social workers are expected to “take precautions to ensure and maintain the confidentiality of information transmitted to other parties through the use of computers, electronic mail, facsimile machines, telephones and telephone answering machines, and other electronic or computer technology. Disclosure of identifying information should be avoided whenever possible” .
Since internet counseling requires the use of two computers, there is a risk that confidential treatment information may end up in the wrong hands. For instance, computer hackers have managed to gain access to private financial information such as customer credit card information and bank account information, which is what happened to Target last Christmas. In the case of internet counseling, the therapist must take extra care to safeguard information transmitted between client and therapist via the computer. While the therapist can get special software and stringent virus and security protection through Norton or McPhee, the therapist has little control over what type of computer system that the client has. Is the client using a safeguarded laptop or a public computer? This can make it difficult for the therapist to maintain an appropriate level of confidentiality. Maintaining confidentiality is also required by the American Psychological Association, including protection of information from third parties (American Psychological Association, 2010). Suppose that a therapist is counseling an individual through the internet and a parent, spouse, or child pretends to be the client and starts conversing with the therapist online? A therapist needs to try and prevent this from happening, but some of it is out of the person’s control.
However, internet counseling may be the only option for some clients, such as people with severe physical disabilities and cannot leave the home, individuals in rural areas with no access to in-person counseling services, or clients who have severe anxiety or phobias that keep them housebound. Not offering these internet services may provide more harm to clients who really need the psychological help, especially suicidal clients .
A therapist who is not licensed to practice certain states faces other ethical concerns. For instance, what if a client is visiting a relative in California when the client and therapist usually engage in internet counseling with each other in Virginia, the state the therapist is licensed in? However, the therapist does not know that the client is using a computer in California. Therapists are not supposed to provide counseling services in states where they are not licensed to practice . If something bad happens to the client, such as the client commits suicide or harms somebody, the therapist is liable, the therapist not protected by the same laws and regulations in the state where the therapist is licensed.
While internet counseling can offer much needed mental health services for people who cannot get these counseling services any other way, internet counseling brings up ethical issues that are hard to control. These include the issue of confidentiality and licensing requirements of therapists, as well as the lack of access of in-person counseling services in rural areas for certain populations. As compared to face-to-face counseling, internet counseling requires greater effort and care in preserving the integrity and ethics of the therapeutic relationship.
- American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct . Retrieved from American Psychological Association website : http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
- Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Callahan, P. (2006). Issues & Ethics in the Helping Professions 76th ed.). Boston : Cengage Learning.
- Workers, N. A. (2008). Code of ethics. NASW Delegate Assembly.
