Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1

LITERATURE REVIEW 12

Literature Review

Social networking is considered to be a form of electronic communication whereby the users are able to create online communities which give the opportunity of sharing information, thoughts, and the individuals’ messages, video, and other content. Social networking is growing, and the majorities of the population in the entire world are now engaged or are participating in social networking sites. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. Many people who are using social networking are doing so for the purposes of connecting with family members, clients, networking, and doing businesses.

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Mental health practitioners have not been left behind in this change, and they are involved in social networking together with their clients to improve their connection processes. This gives them the opportunity of sharing life events and achievements. Despite the increase in the number of counselors who are using social networking to connect with their clients, there are challenges psychologists faces when using social media. These challenges are associated with ethical and legal concerns on the use of social media.

The use of social media by psychologists is exposing their personal information as well as those of their families thus leading to the interference with their professionalism, loss of confidentiality, self-disclosure, and boundaries issues that challenge their work as professionals. Psychologist’s self-disclosure during a therapy session can be considered to be therapeutic at that time; however, the use of social leads to unintentional self-disclosure and therefore it is essential for the psychologists to be more considerate. Social media use by psychologists is lending itself to be a multitude of potential ethical concerns, and it leads to a conflict of interest, privacy and confidentiality, inappropriate disclosure, and dual relationships v.

Self-Disclosure

Psychologist understands that it is their responsibility to be careful in their counseling practices to avoid inappropriate self-disclosure. There is a change in the way through therapists are interacting with other people. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. However, the interface through the internet is presenting unique challenges to the therapeutic relationship concerning the ethical boundaries and privacy. The situation has been made worse due to the lack of guidelines concerning the use of social networking sites (Kellen, Schoenherr, Turns, Madhusudan, & Hecker, 2015). The use of social media by psychologists is lending itself to be a multitude of potential ethical concerns, and it leads to inappropriate disclosure. Kellen et al. (2015) stated that the postings by the psychologists on the social networking sites constitute an inadvertent form of self-disclosure to the clients and colleagues who are getting the opportunities of exploring these sites. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. The chances of having an increased possibility of self-disclosure are increased by the potential of private sites being hacked and exposed. This makes private information to be visible unintentionally via social networks.

Psychologists face attempts to intentionally or unintentionally to disclose verbal and non-verbal private information about their private lives to the people online. This disclosure can sometimes be necessary with regard to the therapeutic responsibility of the psychologist and based on deliberate and timely, self-disclosure can be therapeutic. Nevertheless, the unintentional disclosure of personal information through social network sites is leading to trust and issues related to boundaries in terms of the counseling processes. Internet is accessed by many people and having access to personal information by many individuals makes the nature of therapeutic relationships and boundaries to be more complicated Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

With unintended disclosure of psychologists through social networking sites, it is impossible for the psychologist to have a chance of engaging in a discussion and processing of the information with people therapeutically seeking counseling services. In this case, it is the responsibility of the psychologists to ensure that clients are protected to prevent the possibility of harm. This process is made successful by considering the content as well as the reasoning behind the self-disclosure during therapy (Afsahi, 2014).

The information which is found outside face-face communication is dangerous to the effectiveness of the treatment. Unintended self-disclosure of the personal profile is revealing all the detailed and secret information online to be accessed by online users. Disclosing those information offers opportunities to the online users to view the videos, postings, as well as photos of the psychologist which leads to the complication of the transference in the process of therapeutic treatment. When the clients access private information, it makes the psychologist less competent in offering successful and competent services due to the interference with the countertransference in the therapeutic process and well as a violation of the therapeutic boundary. Afsahi (2014) suggest that it is the responsibility of the psychologists to be well informed regarding how postings of the personal information are affecting the therapeutic process. It is also essential for the psychologists to understand how issues related to self-disclosure is complicating therapeutic boundaries which are likely to interfere with the operation of the counseling process (Afsahi, 2014).

Impact on Privacy and Confidentiality

Afshan (2014) stated that an increase in social media use had created new ethical concerns about privacy and confidentiality. Since there are no clear rules to regulate online engagement, many professionals such as psychologists are active in the social media and sharing some of their private information within the media platform without knowledge on the danger they exposing themselves into. The use of social media exposes psychologists to unwanted disclosure of their personal information to the clients. This issue also affects its relationship with the clients in case the client decides to send a friend request using a Facebook account. Such exposure leads to temptations which result in unprofessional behavior which might, in the end, leads to the loss of employment due to compromising behavior which leads to change in the therapeutic relationship.

Sometimes, psychologists are tempted to post the photos together with their families or with the client for example during a trip mission in another nation. These pictures are informing the public especially their clients concerning their whereabouts thus leading to the lack of privacy in their movements and confidentiality of the type of client who is being treated. When a psychologist accepts a friend request from a client, his or her information can be accessed by the client thus exposing his or her personal information to the clients making the counseling process not to be effective since the clients are already informed about the lifestyle and movement of the counselor (Afsahi, 2014).

Having access to the personal information of the psychologists through social networking sites makes individuals learn a great deal of personal information about the counselors. Such information is related to those of their families and relationships, political opinions, social activities which are they are engaged in, and the religion. Accessing such information introduces complex transference and countertransference concerns with regard to the role of the psychologists to his or her client (Frederick, 2015).

According to Brew et al. (2014), the use of Facebook is playing an important towards communication process between professionals and their students. However, its use is raising a challenging ethical as well as the clinical concerns to both learners and counselor educators. Some of these challenging issues are related to the boundary issues especially the risks which are associated with the privacy of the counselors’ information being accessed. It is always easier to display personal information on Facebook, for example, the email addresses the names, and the phone numbers among other crucial private information. It is also easier to share information related to political and spiritual beliefs, hobbies, and interest thus affecting the overall privacy and confidentiality of both psychologists and the clients. Therefore, these issues affect professional activities during the counseling processes (Brew, Cervantes, & Shepard, 2014).

Denecke (2015) in his study on ethical issues of social media use in healthcare stated that counselors are facing challenges related to the communication barriers in the social media, reduced privacy, and security concerns which lead to problems related to the ethical perspectives. While the use of social media platform might be helping towards improving the services of the counselors, this article shows that there are many issues within the social media applications which interfere with the privacy and confidence which needs to be carefully observed by the counselors. The therapeutic relationship in counseling procedure is suffering as a result of the loss of confidence as well as the absence of privacy as a result of exposure of the confidential information in the social media platform which is accessed by the majority of individuals including the clients. There is lack of anonymity when private information is availed within social media platform, and this leads to the loss of privacy which existed inside the consultation room in providing counseling services (Denecke et al., 2015). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

Professionalism and Therapeutic Boundaries

The availability of psychologist information within the internet or online platform has caused more complication in the nature of the therapeutic boundaries. This issue has resulted in the reduction in the amount of control which psychologists can have in what is to be disclosed to the clients or people in the online platform (Afsahi, 2014) Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. Giota et al. (2014) in his review focused was on the process of understanding the prevalent risks which occurs while using social media and the possible ethical dilemma presented to the psychologists and counselors while using social media. The online world is overlapping the actuality and the psychologists. Therefore ethical concerns increases and this is likely to effects the practice of counseling and therapy. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. It is the responsibility of the mental healthcare professionals to be aware of the issues or risks associated with interaction with clients online. It is highly likely possible that psychotherapist can explore their feelings, wishes, and countertransference reactions to their clients. This is significantly affecting the trust and leading to an adverse impact on the therapeutic relationship at a great deal (Kyriaki & Kleftaras, 2014). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

Traditionally, the client could know little about their therapists outside the consulting room. As psychologists make their information available in the online platform, complications develop especially when the clients seek information about therapists using the online. Exposing personal information online is making it easier for the clients to send messages through social networks and some of these messages contain intimate information. In this situation, the work of psychologists is at risk since denying replying or responding to the message from the client or accepting the request leads to the feelings of rejection and abandonment by the client which leads to lack of cooperation by the client during the counseling session. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. This makes the work of psychologist not to be successful. Alternatively, when psychologists decide to respond or accept the friend request. It makes it easier for them to access sensitive information about the psychologists thus leading to the development of dual relationship which in the end tampers with the effective counseling relationship and breakups in the family of the psychologists once it is detected by other partners in marriage (Kyriaki & Kleftaras, 2014). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

Authors of this article further suggest that to avoid this situation is essential that psychologists be responsible for the web presence and be aware that social media activities blur the boundaries between personal and professional lives. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay Psychologists must also be informed that anything being posted online is seen by several people and will always remain there if it is not deleted. Therefore, psychologists must ensure that sensitive information related to their personal and professional lives are not exposed to the media platform (Kyriaki & Kleftaras, 2014). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

According to Frederick (2015), digital technology has introduced the boundary issues which seem to be interfering with the professional responsibilities of the psychologists (Frederick, 2015). Accessing the private information by individuals especially clients is causing a boundary confusion, and this is compromising the privacy and confidentiality. When the electronic exchanges of information between the psychologists and his or her clients occur at odd hours, then it means that the professionalism of the counselor is at risk of not following the ethical guidelines regarding the counseling practices. When psychologists are using a personal social networking site, it causes confusion in the practitioner-client boundaries. In this case, the professionalism of the psychologists might be affected since the focus of the counseling program will no longer be based on helping the patients but merely on the dual relationship which is against the ethical requirements (Frederick, 2015). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

The competence of the psychologists also remains in question when there is confusion in the boundary between the psychologist and the client. Based on the ethical guidelines, psychologists are required to understand the importance of competence counseling practice. Counselors have the knowledge as well as the skills which are related to the evaluation of the patient, treatment, intervention plan, clinical intervention, and the assessment of the overall outcome. Therefore, the behavior which is going against the ethical code of conduct of the counseling process is likely to implicate the psychologist thus putting the career at risk (Frederick, 2015). Ethical practice requires psychologists to have useful guidelines which are essential in ensuring that there is suitable encryption and appropriate actions or protocols while dealing with clients who are attempting to put their work at risk by forcing them into a dual relationship which is not part of the professional code of conduct (Frederick, 2015).

A study by Sabin et al. (2017) on professional ethics for the digits age psychiatry shows that patients are motivated to include digital technology as part of their treatment. When psychologists make their personal and professional information available within the online platform, there is a higher risk of exposing such information to many audiences including the clients which the psychologists are providing services to. Many clients are active in the social network and easily access information related to their therapists. Different clients are having varied attitudes once this information is obtained (Sabin & Harland, 2017). Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

When the clients access the private and professional information about the therapist, the working relationship between the patients and psychiatrists is likely to have some ethical challenges. In this case, the professionalism of the psychologist is faced with several issues since he or she will have a problem when it comes to the management of the clinical boundaries between him or her and the client. The client or other people are having full information about the psychologists; thus some respect which had existed before due to the lack of information regarding the life of the therapists is no longer there. Psychologists also face a challenge related to the lack of establishing realistic expectations concerning the use of digital communication and failure to uphold the professional ideals (Sabin & Harland, 2017).

Mullen et al. (2014) aimed at introducing the developmental as well as the incidence of social media; reviewing the legal and ethical concerns associated to social media applications in schools; and the current approaches that school counselors are using to practice ethical interactions through social media. School counselors are facing the challenges of observing ethical practice while engaging in communication or interaction through the use of social media (Mullen, Griffith, Greene, & Lambie, 2014). However, it is a requirement that these counselors engaged in careful and considered ethical decision-making processes, especially when interacting with clients.

The relationship existing between the school counselors and the students varies and sometimes appear to be complex. Most of the time, school counselors are developing a beneficial relationship with the students which are essential in facilitating the opportunity for growth through interaction which supports the learning process. There are many barriers towards establishing such a relationship; however, it is recommended that barriers towards the establishment of the successful counselor-student alliance have to be deconstructed. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

As private information becomes available on the internet, clients or students are getting opportunities of knowing about the families as well as the relationship status of the counselors. Psychologists are faced with the challenge of overcoming the temptations which are sometimes brought by clients to be involved in an intimate relationship. According to Mullen et al. (2014), the dual relationship which is developed between the counselor and the clients comes with a lot of complicated ethical dilemmas. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay. A dual relationship is becoming problematic especially when it impairs the objectivity of the counseling process and leading to an increase in harm for the clients and the counseling process as a whole (Mullen, Griffith, Greene, & Lambie, 2014).

In this case, if counselors are incapable of avoiding such relationship especially those who are not beneficial towards the growth and the development of the students, more problems arise and the student might not benefit from the counseling program while at the same time the psychological profession of the counselor remaining at risk due to implications in cases the incidence is detected, or the counseling competence of the psychologists is questioned. Dual relationship increases the risk of failure to observe the confidentiality and privacy which in the end interferes with the entire process of counseling (Mullen, Griffith, Greene, & Lambie, 2014) Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

References

Afsahi, A. (2014). Social networking dilemmas for psychologists: privacy, professionalism, boundary issues, and policies. Dissertation & Thesis, 175.

Brew, L., Cervantes, J. M., & Shepard, D. (2014). Millennial Counselors and the Ethical Use of Facebook. Professional Counselor.

Denecke, K., Bamidis, P., Bond, C., Gabarron, E., Househ, M., Lau, Y. S., et al. (2015). Ethical Issues of Social Media Usage in Healthcare. Yearb Med Inform, 10(1), 137-147. Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.

Frederick, R. G. (2015). “Clinical Social Work in a Digital Environment: Ethical and Risk-Management Challenges. Faculty Publications.

Kellen, K., Schoenherr, M. A., Turns, B., Madhusudan, M., & Hecker, L. (2015). Ethical Decision-Making While Using Social Networking Sites: Potential Ethical and Clinical Implications for Marriage and Family Therapists. American Journal of Family Therapy, 43(1), 67-83.

Kyriaki, G. G., & Kleftaras, G. (2014). Social Media and Counseling: Opportunities, Risks. International Journal of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, 8(8), 2386-2388.

Mullen, P., Griffith, C., Greene, J. H., & Lambie, G. W. (2014). Social Media and Professional School Counselors. Journal of School Counseling, 12(8), n8.

Sabin, J. E., & Harland, J. C. (2017). Professional Ethics for Digital Age Psychiatry: Boundaries, Privacy, and Communication. Curr Psychiatry Rep, 19(9), 55 Literature Review Organization SAMPLE essay.