Discussion:
Ethical Dilemmas in Counseling
1. What's the ethical dilemma in this case?
2. What did the counselor do wrong?
3. What could the counselor do differently?
Case study: Ward and June
Brett is a ten year old son of June and Ward. They visited Brett's school psychologist who tested and assessed Brett on their request. The results showed that Brett has ADD and a learning disorder related to math. They are upset by these news and they opt to seek a second opinion. This is despite the fact that they know that their kid has been struggling lately, and they feel that his difficulties are as result of something else but not what the school psychologist concluded. Brett is presented to me for a second opinion. Even though I don't have experience working with children I decide to re-test him after disagreeing with the school psychologist. I even go further to tell the family that it's not uncommon for school psychologists to misdiagnose children. I also request for the school psychologist to fax me raw data from his tests as the family counselor.