The Virtuous Therapist: Ethical Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy

by Elliot D. Cohen, Gale Spieler Cohen

Even with the development of codes of ethics and laws, counseling professionals are often left in quandaries when it comes to questions of ethics. In The Virtuous Therapist, authors Elliot D. Cohen and Gale Spieler Cohen provide a systematic, philosophical approach to mental health ethics. Their comprehensive model of ethical decision making is developed as a basis for addressing a number of difficult ethical problems that are raised throughout the book. Many of the issues raised in the second part of the book are timely, ethically engaging, and of practical importance to those working in the trenches. For example, the authors examine how the growing AIDS epidemic has prompted pressing questions about the ethics of counseling sexually active clients who are HIV-positive. In contrast to rule-based approaches, this virtue-based perspective emphasizes the therapists' development of character traits that are essential to working through moral problems in therapy. The Virtuous Therapist is co-authored by a philosopher with training and clinical experience in counseling and by a counselor with a background in philosophy. By combining these professional credentials, the authors avoid philosophical short-sightedness while remaining in tune with the practical realities of psychotherapy.

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 1998