Concise Guide to Ethics in Mental Health Care

Providing ethical care is the goal of every dedicated clinician and clinical trainee, yet fulfilling this ideal involves far more than simply being -- or trying to be -- good.

Concise yet thorough, this pocket guide fills the void left by traditions, codes, and legal rulings to help define the real meaning of professionalism in the care of human suffering.

Writing with clarity, coherence, and optimism, the authors summarize fundamental principles, enumerate essential skills, and review recent empirical findings in the overlapping areas of clinical ethics and psychiatry. Case illustrations, tables, and strategic lists enhance the book's 17 informative chapters, which are organized into three major topical areas: Psychiatric ethics -- Basic principles of bioethics; core values, traditions, and skills of the clinical professions; clinical ethical decision making (including the role of health care ethics committees); genetic breakthroughs and their ethical implications; and the three ethics principles in psychiatric research: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice Clinical settings -- The psychotherapeutic relationship; ethical use of power; confidentiality/privacy and truth telling; informed consent-the cornerstone of ethically sound clinical care; caregiving in small communities, which involves overlapping relationships, roles, and boundaries (e.g., the patient and the clinician grew up on neighboring farms), confidentiality (e.g., everyone in town watches who goes into the clinic, culture (e.g., a mental illness may not be acknowledged or recognize as such), and special stresses of clinicians; mentoring and support during training Clinical populations -- Emotionally disturbed children, exceptionally demanding work that involves clinical and ethical complexities, such as giving food as a reward, allowing hugs, and reporting child abuse, that do not exist in work with adults; "difficult" patients, from those who refuse to take their medications to those who omit important details about their histories; resource allocation (i.e., "rationing" health care), including the disruptions in clinician-patient relationships caused by managed care; people facing the end of life; addiction psychiatry and the role of stigma; and mental health problems of colleagues.

This volume in the eminently practical Concise Guides series moves us forward in our efforts to improve clinical decision-making, foster awareness, and enrich educational efforts related to the ethically challenging dimensions of mental health care. Complete with glossary, references, index, and suggested further readings, this remarkable guide offers an invaluable toolkit for mental health care students and professionals everywhere.

Dr. Roberts serves as Chairman and the Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.   

She is an internationally recognized scholar in bioethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education, and is identified as a foremost psychiatric ethicist in the United States.  Dr. Roberts has received extensive scientific peer-reviewed funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and private foundations to perform empirical studies of modern ethical issues in research, clinical care, and health policy, with a particular focus on vulnerable and special populations.  Her work has led to advances in understanding of ethical aspects of physical and mental illness research, societal implications for genetic innovation, the role of stigma in health disparities, the impact of medical student and physician health issues, and optimal approaches to fostering professionalism in medicine.  
 
Dr. Roberts has been the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Academic Psychiatry since 2002 and serves as an editorial board member and peer reviewer for many scientific and education journals.   Dr. Roberts was the first woman to be elected President of the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry.  Dr. Roberts has received numerous awards for leadership, teaching, and science.