This chapter considers specific ethical and legal issues related to the practice of family psychology, focusing first on the special issue of competency for identification as a family psychologist and proceeding to introduce clinical factors from a legal and ethical perspective.
Competence in Family Psychology
Family psychology has been viewed as a distinct field since the inception of APA Division 43, and although its practitioners in psychology proudly identify with its distinctiveness, it is often difficult for others to distinguish it from the larger "family field." The latter includes the profession of family therapy (as embodied in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy [AAMFT]), the modality of family therapy as practiced by other mental health professionals (social work, professional counseling, nursing, and psychiatry), and others in areas such as family life education, research, and sociology. There is, of course, much overlap, and just as a psychiatrist doing family therapy may be indistinguishable from a social worker practicing a specific type of family therapy, a psychologist trained in a family psychology post-doctoral fellowship may practice in comprehensive areas within the field very similarly to a PhD trained in an AAMFT family therapy program. Nonetheless, advances have been made in defining the specific realm of family psychology, and guidelines and certification actively identify competent family psychology specialists.
What, then, is distinctive about ethical practice in family psychology? As in all ethical considerations, it is important to begin with applicable ethics codes, legal guidelines, and