ABSTRACT
Professional ethical codes have two major shortcomings. First, professional codes are necessarily vague. They offer general principles to guide professional conduct, along with some specific standards and prohibitions, but ethical codes cannot provide direction regarding all of the different circumstances that arise in the practice of a mental health profession. Second, mental health professionals occasionally encounter situations in which two or more ethical principles appear to conflict (e.g., the principles of confidentiality and concern for the welfare of others). The ethical codes of the mental health professions do not provide a method for resolving such ethical dilemmas. As a result, professionals have little guidance other than their personal ethical values to refer to in deciding what to do. They are often uncomfortable with the course of action they select because it is inconsistent with one of the ethical principles involved in the situation (Smith, McGuire, Abbott, & Blau, 1991). Professionals need a rational method of determining an ethically acceptable course of action in such complex circumstances.
