Abstract
As clinicians we often struggle to discuss professional ethics. Codes of ethics are often boring and hard to remember. Consciously and unconsciously we often carry shame about clinical situations in which we have fallen short of our expectations for our work, and yet we have all faced situations in which there is no clear path, where every turn carries the risk of an ethical breach. While some decisions involve clear choices, others involve a slippery slope towards murky predicaments or even transgressions.
This workshop has been developed to address the aversion to thinking and talking
about ethics. We will use lively, experience-near fictional vignettes which depict
complex, thorny ethical dilemmas. We will focus on issues of boundaries and the
powerful emotional pull we experience with some patients to stray from our own
internalized ideals.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Identify at least two unconscious pressures which can affect the therapist’s ability to set appropriate physical and emotional boundaries.
2. Assess and recognize when consultation is appropriate or necessary to address issues of boundaries and professional conduct.
Biography
Stephanie Schechter is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. She is on the faculty at Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute where she teaches a variety of courses including Ethics and Erotic Transferences and Countertransferences. She and Dr. Susan Kattlove present frequently at the APsaA National meetings, as well as institutes around the country, on the topic of "Ethical Dilemmas in Psychoanalytic Institutes." She is a contributing author of the Psychoanalyst Assistance Casebook of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
References
Ackerman, S. (2020). Impossible Ethics, Journal of the American Psychoanalyic Association, 68(4), 561-582.
Drozek, R.P. (2018) Psychoanalysis as an Ethical Process: Ethical Intersubjectivity and Therapeutic Action. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(5), 538-556.
Summers, F. (2022). A Psychoanalytic Foundation for Modern Ethics. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 19(2), 178-197.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 2 CE credits addressing implicit bias, free for all MCPP members. For non-MCPP members, there is a $50 fee to attend for CE credits or a $25 fee to attend without CE credits.
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