Gavazzi, J. (2026).
www.ethicalpsychology.com
This article is self-published for inclusion in a home study offered through the Pennsylvania Psychological Association. The home study promotes a structured approach to ethical decision-making, designed to support self-reflective practice.
Clinical Impact Statement
This article offers psychologists a practical, principle-based framework for working through ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. By treating autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and fidelity as competing obligations to be specified and balanced rather than rules to be memorized, the framework helps clinicians reason transparently through situations in which the Ethics Code alone does not provide clear direction. It supports more defensible decisions, stronger therapeutic relationships, and the kind of reflective practice that treats ethics as an aspiration rather than a minimum standard.
