Submitted for publication
Psychotherapy is not a value-free experience; hence,
morality plays a role in the helping relationship. The psychologist’s role in
psychotherapy inherently entails more power in the relationship. Therefore, to
work in their patient’s best interest, psychologists need to remain aware of
the power imbalance and their potential influence on the belief systems and
values of their patients. All psychologists have the ability to influence their
patients in many areas of their lives including the domains of morality,
values, and ethics.
In terms of psychotherapy training,
psychologists need to be aware of their moral beliefs as these apply to a
variety of topics in psychotherapy. Patients come to psychotherapy with diverse
beliefs and backgrounds, so psychologists need to be open to the diversities of
modern American life. Psychologists also need to be aware of their limits of
what is acceptable versus unacceptable, in terms of their patients’ thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors. Psychologists and patients who have congruent belief
systems rarely discuss how their synchronous values work toward a positive
outcome, although congruence between the value systems of clients and psychologists
is correlated with successful outcomes in psychotherapy (Beutler & Bergen,
1991). Furthermore, research supports
the idea that patient values shift toward psychologist values during therapy
(Williams & Levitt, 2007). This finding is a less obvious result of
psychotherapy, and typically not a planned goal of therapy.
