Being Ethical as a Mental Health Professional

Abstract

Being an ethical mental health professional requires ethical awareness and knowledge, the ability to have ethical reasoning skills, and the motivation to act ethically. The interpersonal relationships established by the mental health professional always have an ethical dimension and involve interfering in the existence of another human being. Every mental health professional must ultimately take responsibility for their actions and ensure that those actions are guided by carefully thought-out ethical values. Often, there can be conflicting guidelines between codes of ethics and laws, requiring a mental health professional to be well-versed in both and have an understanding of the underlying principles before taking action. Such circumstances reinforce the importance of compliance with professional ethics in mental health professionals' activities and justify the imposition of high ethical requirements on them.