Non Suicidal Self Injury On Adolescents: the Ethical Dilemmas for Psychologists

Abstract

Self- injury or self-harm is seen differently by groups and cultures within society (Hawton, Saunders & O’Connor, 2012). Working with adolescents that intentionally harm themselves arise the ethical obligations concerning confidentiality, especially the involvement of parents and how to handle different situations. The ethical dilemma that psychologists are facing when working with adolescents will be presented in this study. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 psychologists working either in the private sector or in hospitals and the difficulties they were facing will be presented. The results of the analysis of the interviews show that there is a gap in the literature and in the code of ethics and the good practice regarding the confidentiality issues and whether the adolescents should be treated as young adults or not. Further support for those working with adolescents is needed in order to be more confident of their decision to get the family of the adolescent involved or not.