Ethical principles in psychotherapy within a broad psychological and medical deontological framework: An international comparison

Awareness of ethics codes and professional guidelines is crucial to a professional role in psycho-therapy practice. Psychotherapy practice is increasingly heterogeneous, and there is much dis-cussion about their effectiveness for clients. In some countries, psychotherapy is an autono-mous profession. In others, is part of the professional features of psychologists and psychia-trists, and it is possible to find other health professionals working as psychotherapists in some countries. Considering that ethical principles are central to the performance of a profession, we intend to find connections between the ethical principles for psychotherapists and psy-chologists or psychiatrists. A critical review was done to promote an integrative vision of ethics codes in psychotherapy. Content analysis of the ethics codes in psychotherapy was per-formed. Confidentiality, competence, and integrity were the principles more frequently found. Psychotherapists seem to have a major concern with interpersonal relationships and are less linked to social responsibility.