2015

Ethical dilemmas are commonplace in the practice of counseling, and counselors
need to be effective in ethical decision making in order to address ethical
dilemmas as they arise. However, how a counselor handles anxiety or conflict
emotionally can impact the ethical decision-making process and outcome. Thus,
it is important to develop higher levels of differentiation of self in counselors to
avoid the pitfalls of emotional reactivity in situations where counselors may deal
with colleagues that disagree with their ethical course of action through distance
(emotional cutoff) or closeness (fusion—counselor gives up their reasoned
ethical course of action to maintain the professional relationship, eventually
resulting in loss of identity). To help counselors develop higher levels of
differentiation of self, counselors will be encouraged to participate in an ethical
debate with colleagues where they are outnumbered in the group consensus and
must advocate for their ethical course of action.