Essay Sample on Patients' Treatment Process

Introduction

Religion is the belief or worship of a supernatural being or phenomenon, mostly a God. Contrary, spirituality is the shift of concern to human spirit or soul, instead of physical or material things. The fields of psychology and science in general, have today embraced the concepts of religion and spirituality in their practice. Also, researchers have used scrupulous scientific methods in the examination of the integration of psychology and religion. In addition, the investigation of the link between religion and health is today emphasized in the healthcare sector since the two phenomena facilitate the attainment of patients' improved healthcare outcome. Patients who have strong religious beliefs in most cases have confidence that their God will intervene and provide a spiritual remedy for their medical conditions. However, although there is no scientific validation to this premise, medical practitioners believe that spirituality or strong faith in a supernatural being in a patient helps in alleviating stress and anxiety caused by sickness. Subsequently, this leads to the attainment of an improved healthcare outcome. Despite the perceived psychological merits of religion and spirituality in promoting the wellness of patients, appropriate APA Code of Ethics must be followed when introducing the two theological aspects in the patients' treatment process.

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Competence

Competence is among the most imperative ethical standards that should be enforced by all therapists when offering medical interventions to patients. Under the APA Code of Ethics (2002), there are three primary competence boundaries that govern the practice of therapists (Pirelli, Beattey, & Zapf, 2016). The first obligation for therapists is to become familiar with scientific and professional knowledge of treating patients. Second, therapists have an obligation to attain and use professional skills in treating patients. Third, professionals must know when to refer to their professional treatment guidelines and when to use their experiences in administering the best possible intervention. Despite the clarity evident in the stated boundaries on the role of therapists to their patients, professional psychologists often experience difficulties in incorporating the clients' religious beliefs into professional practice. In addition, such difficulties are normally in form of an ethical dilemma on whether to use the patients' religion and spirituality in therapy or whether to deject such beliefs in favor of modern medicine psychology. Based on the third competence obligation - APA Code of Ethics (2002), therapists should know the type of information attained from the client to use for treatment and the information that should not be used.

Research has supported the use of alternative interventions, like religion, alongside formal treatment in attaining improved healthcare outcomes among patients. As such, professional therapists should learn to listen to the patients' beliefs and religious faith and assess whether it is supportive to their healing process. For instance, a Christian patient who believes that God will help him/her to heal and have confidence with the doctor's treatment should be encouraged. Nevertheless, a religious belief that discredits the use of contemporary medicine and instead supports a divine intervention for a patient should be discouraged. Additionally, psychologists responsible for the patients should know the ramifications of accepting either of the stated examples in the clients' treatment process. For instance, in the first case, the client will use faith to attain confidence in the therapist's treatment process and in so doing attain peace. Such an outcome would be acceptable and it would help the client in attaining a quick recovery. Contrary, in the second example, religious faith that discredits modern treatment methods should be disregarded by the healthcare professional. That is because such faith will not support the concerned patient's treatment process and instead, it might worsen his/her health status.

Informed Consent

It is an ethical concept that requires psychologists to ensure that their clients have all the necessary information regarding their treatment before any form of medical intervention can be started (Saks & Golshan, 2013). Also, upon being issued such information, the patient is required to provide his/her consent verbally or most preferably in writing form to the therapist. As such, the therapist is supposed to issue professional treatment within the parameters of the signed consent. In addition, in the event the psychologist decides to introduce any other form of alternative intervention, such as religious or spiritual therapy to support his/her interventions to the client, the latter must be informed for consent. Also, in the event the psychologist decides to introduce religion and spirituality in therapy without informing his/her client, the therapist will have infringed the APA Code of Conduct. That is the code that requires all clients, patients or research participants to have informed consent before participating in any form of treatment or research. The ramifications that may be encountered by a therapist for failure to offer informed consent may include a lawsuit against him/her by the client, in the event, any unfavorable healthcare outcome resulted from undisclosed information.

A lawsuit due to lack of informed consent can be filed by the client on four primary grounds. First, if the inflicted patient claims that a psychologist had a duty to attain an informed consent for him/her but failed to do so before commencing treatment. Second, a lawsuit can be filed against a therapist if he/she failed to obtain informed consent from the client due to the risks involved in the intervention or treatment that was undertaken. Third, if the patient claims that he/she would not have agreed to the offered intervention if the psychologist might have discussed the ramifications of introducing the new intervention. In this case, the introduction of religion and spirituality in issued therapy treatment. Lastly, if the patient claims that he/she suffered any form of harm in the therapy offered to him/her by the psychologists when religion or spirituality was introduced to the treatment administered. As such, it is imperative for all psychologists to offer their clients an informed consent before administering any form of treatment. In addition, that is because failure to do could affect both the patients and counseling professionals involved in the intervention implementation process.

Conclusion

In conclusion, despite the perceived psychological merits of religion and spirituality in promoting the wellness of patients, appropriate APA Code of Ethics must be followed when introducing the two theological aspects in the patients' treatment process. In addition, competence is among the most imperative ethical standards that should be enforced by all therapists when offering medical interventions to patients. Based on the competence APA ethical standard, therapists must learn to identify the type of information attained from the client that they can use for treatment and the information that should not be used. For instance, any religious beliefs and spirituality that cannot help in promoting the health and wellness of a patient should not be upheld. In addition, informed consent is an ethical concept that requires psychologists to ensure that their clients have all the necessary information regarding their treatment before any form of medical intervention can be started. Before introducing a new form of treatment, such as the use of religion and spirituality in therapy, a patient must from informed consent to a psychologist either verbally or most preferably in writing. Failure to provide informed consent to a patient could result in a lawsuit for counseling professional involved in the event any form of medical harmful develops in a patient after treatment.

References

Pirelli, G., Beattey, R. A., & Zapf, P. A. (2016). The Ethical Practice of Forensic Psychology: A Casebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Saks, E. R., & Golshan, S. (2013). Informed Consent to Psychoanalysis: The Law, the Theory, and the Data. New York: Fordham University Press.