Introduction to Revising the APA Ethics Code

Abstract

The first chapter in this book, which is about recommendations toward revising the ethics code of the American Psychological Association (APA, American Psychologists, 57, 1060–1073, 2002; Ibid., Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct, 2010; Ibid., American Psychologist, 71, 900, 2016), outlines the contents of each of its nine chapters. The main recommendation of the present book is that the five principles of the APA ethics code should be revised, and the book offers suggestions consistent with a Maslovian model of hierarchical needs and motivations (Maslow, Psychological Review, 50, 370–396, 1943) in this regard (after Young, Unifying causality and psychology: Being, brain, and behavior. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016). This first chapter provides relevant definitions and the assumptions involved that are considered fundamental to the task. It proceeds to a literature review on current approaches to ethical codes in mental health. This is consistent with the second major goal of the present book, which is to offer a series of recommendations toward creating a universal mental health ethics code. It reviews the different approaches to ethical codes encountered in different disciplines and different countries, as well as in the universal psychological ethical code.