The Ethical Lives of Clients

Clients often seek therapists’ input for dealing with ethical dilemmas in their lives, but there is little guidance for therapists in how to do this. This book shows therapists how to serve as ethical consultants who help clients balance their personal needs with their sense of responsibility to others.

Bill Doherty blends decades of clinical experience with personal and philosophical insights to frame the skills and knowledge therapists need to act as ethical guides while respecting client autonomy. He calls for a shift from psychotherapy’s individualistic focus towards a more relational one that includes ethical connections to others.

Doherty presents the LEAP‑C model, a framework for ethical consulting that utilizes the traditional therapeutic skills of listening, exploring, affirming, and offering perspective, while also challenging clients to recognize ethical issues they don’t perceive.

Using detailed case examples, he provides a roadmap for addressing common client dilemmas, such as keeping and ending commitments, having affairs, lying and deceiving, and causing psychological or physical harm to others.

He also provides guidelines for citizen therapists to lend their expertise to help solve larger societal concerns, such as political polarization and police-community relations.

Introduction. The Ethical Domain of Clients’ Lives

Part I. The Science and Practice of Ethical Consultation

• Chapter 1. Foundations of Ethical Consultation in Therapy
• Chapter 2. The Craft of Ethical Consultation in Therapy

Part II. Common Ethical Dilemmas in Clients’ Lives

• Chapter 3. Keeping or Ending Commitments
• Chapter 4. Having Affairs
• Chapter 5. Lying and Deceiving
• Chapter 6. Harming Others

Part III. The Responsibilities of Therapists as Ethical Consultants

• Chapter 7. The Self of the Therapist in Ethical Consultation
• Chapter 8. The Citizen Therapist

Afterword: Two Therapy Cases That Had a Public Impact
References
Index
About the Author

William J. Doherty, PhD, is a professor in the department of family social science and director of the Citizen Professional Center at the University of Minnesota. He is a practicing marriage and family therapist and cofounder of The Doherty Relationship Institute.

He has made many appearances in media outlets and has written 15 other books, including Take Back Your Marriage, Second Edition. Dr. Doherty also leads the Citizen Health Care and Families and Democracy Project, is past president of the National Council on Family Relations, and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Family Therapy Academy.

More information is available on The Doherty Relationship Institute websiteopens in new window.