ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of how ethics have been and are viewed within the transactional analysis community, both in the past and present. The core of most ethical questions revolves around the dilemma of how reciprocity can be maintained within an asymmetrical power relationship. Ethical maturity is: having the reflective, rational, intuitive, and emotional capacity to decide actions are right and wrong, having the courage and resilience to implement the decisions, being accountable for ethical decisions made, and being able to learn from and live with the experiences involved. Virtues are seen as a matter of personal character, but professional values and ethics can be learned. The International Association for Transactional Analysis code of ethics, for example, stipulates that the professional relationship ends with the completion of the contract, but that there are certain professional responsibilities that continue beyond the termination of the professional contract.
