Doing the Right Thing: An Approach to Moral Issues in Mental Health Treatment

Here is the first practical guide for dealing with the moral issues that
regularly confront clinicians in their work. Written for all mental health
professionals, Doing the Right Thing: An Approach to Moral Issues in Mental
Health Treatment offers a framework both for making moral decisions concerning
the treatment of patients and for helping patients deal with their own moral
concerns.

Drawing on current thinking in several disciplines, Doing the
Right Thing introduces the concept of moral functioning as a basis for
therapeutic influence. Numerous case examples illustrate how to Assess
patients' ability to function morally-Learn how six basic capacities needed for
moral functioning develop, and how identifying problems in an individual's moral
functioning can help guide the formulation of a treatment plan. Treat patients
with problems functioning morally-Appreciate when it is time to set aside
neutrality as a therapeutic stance in favor of a more direct approach to helping
patients make moral commitments, decisions and self-assessments and develop
moral character. Deal with the moral aspects of clinical
decision-making-Develop a framework for making moral choices in planning the
direction of treatment, confronting resistance and addressing problems in caring
effectively. Help patients address moral challenges-Learn how to take into
account your own and the patient's values in reasoning through moral dilemmas.
Understand more clearly how to help patients deal with unfair pain caused by
others, as well as the guilt and shame caused by their own moral failures.
Employ the therapeutic potential of moral growth, transformation, and
integration-Discover the role of a clinician in helping demoralized patients
reformulate their ideals for better outcomes. Recognize where a moral paradigm
is useful in improving the delivery of mental health care.

Concise,
clear, and clinically relevant, Doing the Right Thing is a valuable,
thought-provoking guide for both new and seasoned mental health practitioners
who live and work in a morally complex environment. It is also an excellent
supplementary text for courses dealing with the practice of psychotherapy and
the ethical aspects of mental health care.