Ethical dilemmas in psychiatric screening practice

Ethical Dilemma

A common dilemma that all psychiatric screeners will have is a host ethical situations. This is because the position involves working with other mental health professionals and patients. The problems arise when there is a conflict between guidelines for the industry and what is morally correct. At the heart of these issues, are three different ethical dilemmas that will be encountered to include: the use of medication, what issues should be discussed with colleagues and becoming too close with clients.

Medication

The use of medication is a major ethical situation because no single drug will address all of the symptoms impacting the patient. As a psychiatric screener, this can create conflicts when you realize that the medication is not working. This is challenging because, there is a duty as mental health professionals to look out for the best interests of the patient. Yet, you could also be undermining the authority of colleagues and supervisors. The way this is unethical is all psychiatrists must take the patient's interests into account. The fact that they are not becoming better is a sign that something needs to be changed with the therapy. The problem is that some doctors will want to wait and see vs. dealing with the situation (which can increase suffering). This causes the patient to feel worse and it wastes their money on treatment options that are ineffective. To address this ethical dilemma, you should document why this patient needs to have a change in their medication. Then, present your ideas to other colleagues and supervisors. This will provide a way for: objectively seeing what issues are impacting the patient and which steps must be taken to deal with these challenges. (Paul, 2011)

Becoming too close with Clients

A common challenge that all psychiatric screeners will face is becoming too close to clients. This is because during the process of working with them, is when they will share the emotions and feelings they are having. Over the course of time, this can impact the kind of treatment the patient is receiving by influencing the objectivity of the therapist. When this happens, any kind of remedy options will become ineffective. This is unethical and illegal, because all mental health professionals are supposed to be detached from these kinds of situations. To address these issues, you must have someone else screen the patient in the future. Then, an attitude of objectivity must be applied at all times when working with future clients. This will prevent the emotionalism associated with many client issues from impacting mental health professionals.