Abstract

In our increasingly litigious society, with rising malpratice premiums and decreased federal funding for mental health and social sevices, there has been increased attention to the always essential topic of ethics in professional practice. The purpose of Thompson's book is to provide an intellectual basis for the ethical practice of psychotherapy. It proposes a set of six basic overlapping ethical principles which can be applied to any situation encountered in the practice of psychotherapy. While ethical guidelines exist for each of the professions which practice psychotherapy they do not provide an underlying rationale which would facilitate their application in situations which are not spelled out in those guidelines. Thompson presents the philosophical underpinnings and the legal ramifications of the principles expressed in the various ethical codes of professional conduct