www.psychceu.com: Using the DSM Legally & Ethically: Best Practices by Pamela Harmell, PhD

Approved for 6 hours of continuing education

This course will be accepted by MCEP for California Psychologists

www.psychceu.com is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists - www.psychceu.com maintains responsibility for the program and its content.

New for 2010!

Psychotherapists struggle with the role of the DSM-IV-TR system and ethical diagnosing of clients. This course examines the Five Axial System with a review of major diagnoses, informed consent, proper billing, and multicultural challenges. The popularity of the DSM system along with the potential harm inherent in using diagnostic “labeling” will be addressed, dealing with complex legal and ethical issues such as parity versus non-parity diagnoses, fraudulent insurance practices, evidence-based treatment planning and managed care. Relevant Ethical Principles are used to highlight ethical and legal issues such as assignation of diagnoses to control, involuntarily commit, medicate, and incarcerate clients inappropriately.

APPROVED FOR SOCIAL WORKERS, MFTs, AND PSYCHOLOGISTS.
For people who have more than one psychotherapy license to renew, you can fulfill your Master's and Doctoral ethics and law requirement with this one course!

Please join us in this 6 unit course.

Learning Objectives

This is a post graduate level continuing education ethics course. After completing this course, psychotherapists will be able to gain and apply knowledge about the following topics:

Ethical diagnosing when using the DSM-IV-TR system
Legal and ethical standards to minimize the risk of malpractice civil suits
The Five Axial System of Diagnosis
Potential harm related to legal and ethical dilemmas when using the DSM
Patient welfare and protection of patients' rights when diagnosing
Accurate billing practices
Accurate use of diagnosis
Avoidance of fraudulent or misleading billing with managed care companies
Awareness of current issues of confidentiality, privilege, and record-keeping, with special regard to diagnosis
Multicultural challenges when using the DSM
Familiarity with ethical decision-making models

Who Should Attend

Excerpt from the course:

THE FOUR TRUTHS ABOUT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

TRUTH ONE
“You will make mistakes” begins the preface of the Bennett et al. (2006, p. 5) book published by the American Psychological Association Insurance Trust. Psychotherapists are not perfect and in a particularly litigious environment, therapists must be realistic in planning for errors and mistakes. A solid ethical decision making model, as discussed in this section, will give a foundation on which to base decisions and clarify how and why something was done in a specific manner.
Therapists will not be deemed unethical simply for making a mistake “as long as you based your decision on generally acceptable clinical reasoning and knowledge” (Bennett et al., 2006, p. 5). The goal of this course is to prepare therapists to avoid making the big mistakes and to minimize the consequences of smaller mistakes. Licensing boards and ethics committee know therapists to make acceptable, legitimate mistakes and expect them to rectify these by gaining further education and consultation.

TRUTH TWO
“You can’t help everyone” is the second key point made by these authors. Therapists all wish and intend to help a client move forward, ease his or her pain, gather momentum for change and increase the quality of life in as many ways as possible. However, it is not necessarily the fault of the therapist if these things fail to occur within a reasonable amount of time. Knowing when to try another type of treatment rather than the particular theoretical orientation being used currently is part of the process. However, knowing when to refer a client to another helping professional is prudent and ethical. Thus, doing a thorough evaluation prior to agreeing to take a new therapy client is mandatory.

TRUTH THREE
“You won’t know everything” is the third element of these authors risk management and decision making model. It is part of the ethical responsibility to know when to consult, take continuing education courses, and to know one’s limitations.
“You cannot go it alone.” Practicing in isolation exposes a therapist to a higher degree of risk with regard to legal action or ethical complaints. Unfortunately, this is a often a solitary profession where therapists see one client after another without outside contact. Over estimating one’s competence is a mistake that occurs when the therapist fails to recognize his or her need for outside feedback. These authors use the catchy phrase “Outliers risk becoming Outlaws.” By this they are referring to therapists who fail to seek consultation, a second opinion or stay current on best practices.

TRUTH FOUR
“It is helpful to have a proper mix of confidence and humility.” Here Bennett et al., mean therapists must accept their limitations, pool their resources by consultation, and benefit from collective wisdom of colleagues. Using creativity in seeking advice, continuing education and support from other therapists reduces the risk of errors.

AUTHOR DISCLAIMER
The material contained in this course is the professional and personal understanding of the course author’s interpretation of the experts that have been cited throughout the text. Should any person wish to use this material for any purpose other than basic continuing education as it is presented here, that person should seek the original sources for his or her personal understanding.

The authors cited are accepted and published experts in the field of legal and ethical issues in psychology, marriage and family therapy, and social work. Cited herein are current opinions, case law when applicable, state statute. Interpretations of the 2002 APA Ethics Code is primarily gleaned from the fine work of Celia B. Fisher, Ph.D., Chair of the APA Ethics Code Task Force that completed the current revision (Fisher, 2009).

This is IN NO WAY a legal document nor does it offer legal advice or legal interpretations other than those of other experts as cited. This material is not meant as a personal or clinical consultation, nor is it meant to be substituted for contact with an ethics committee, attorney, or professional consultant.

is approved by the:

www.psychceu.com
maintains responsibility for the program.

how it works

Due to the wonders of technology, the minute you submit your order over our secure line, it is encrypted, and processed safely and securely by Authorize.net, a secure web processor. Or, if you prefer, call us toll-free 888-777-3773.

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If you ordered an online course, you can begin to take the course immediately.

You will receive instructions, via e-mail, on how to take your test online.

Contact us or call if you need technical support.

Your test will be graded online, so the moment you have passed, you may print out your certificate of completion.

That's it! You are done!

Cost of the course is $99

PAMELA H. HARMELL, PH.D. Dr. Pamela Harmell is a national lecturer specializing in legal and ethical issues in clinical practice. She is a Professor at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology and has written extensively in professional publications on ethical practice. Dr. Harmell is the past President of the Board of Psychology, former Chair of the California State Ethics Committee, and is the current Co-Chair of the Los Angeles County Psychological Association Ethics Committee. She has completed one year of law school. Please visit her website at http://www.drpamelaharmell.com/

www.psychceu.com adheres to the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists. Our courses are carefully screened by our Planning Committee to adhere to APA standards. We also require authors who compose Internet courses specifically for us to follow APA ethical standards.
Many of our courses contain case material, and may use the methods of qualitative research and analysis, in-depth interviews and ethnographic studies. The psychotherapeutic techniques depicted may include play therapy, sandplay therapy, dream analysis, drawing analysis, client and therapist self-report, clinical vignettes, etc. The materials presented may be considered non-traditional and may be controversial, and may not have widespread endorsement within the profession. www.psychceu.com maintains responsibility for the program.

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This course counts as a 'regular' (not self-study) course by the CA BBS!

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