Fidelity to Individual Psychotherapy Patients in a Time of Ideological Extremism

Ethically-minded counselors must clearly distinguish themselves from those who view vulnerable adults (and child patients in school settings) with ideological intent.

Patients seeking psychotherapy for the first time are often more vulnerable than they have ever been in their adult lives. Their troubles have left them in overwhelming psychological pain and confusion and with a diminished sense of self. For this reason, psychotherapy practices are guided by a set of professional ethics that protect patients from exploitation, including exploitation in the form of ideological indoctrination. I have always had a sense of professional pride that the American Counseling Association (ACA) has maintained robust and straightforward protections against ideological indoctrination. The protection against indoctrination that the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics established states: 

“Counselors are aware of—and avoid imposing—their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Counselors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants and seek training in areas in which they are at risk of imposing their values onto clients, especially when the counselor’s values are inconsistent with the client’s goals or are discriminatory in nature.” 

This passage protects patients from being indoctrinated into belief systems that they would, were they not in a vulnerable state, reject. The inclusion of such a passage in the ACA Code of Ethics was very forward-thinking. It appears to have been created in recognition of the fact that political extremists tend to see opportunities for ideological gratification in vulnerable adults and children in school counseling settings. Such proclivities do not stem from the philosophies of the left or right, but from a set of personality characteristics found in extremes on both sides of the political spectrum. People with these personalities exhibit a preoccupation with identity and psychological substructures associated with interpersonal exploitation. 

It bears repeating: ideological extremism can be a threat to psychotherapy patients regardless of whether such beliefs stem from the left wing or right wing of the political spectrum, when ideology intrudes upon patients’ therapy. Thus, the ideological indoctrination of psychotherapy patients must be challenged regardless of the political substructure of the beliefs that are being thrust upon them. In the present context, soon after the events of October 7th and the disturbing display of antisemitism on college campuses in the weeks afterward, it is the advancement of a left-wing orthodoxy that warrants urgent intervention. 

In a recent article in Counseling Today, the official publication of the American Counseling Association, the President of the ACA proclaimed that the organization is adopting a “decolonization” outlook and is creating Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. This appears to include promoting equality of outcomes among persons from various groups in the name of “equity,” and promoting a shift in the nature of counseling. The intent is to reshape political structures and the foundations of thought and culture as well as to lead other mental health disciplines in doing the same.

I was disappointed and disturbed that the President of the American Counseling Association had stated that the ACA has adopted an ideology that is animating chants of “From the River to the Sea!” on college campuses following the horrid events of October 7th. Yet, it must be acknowledged that the profession has been heading in this direction for a while now. For example, the ACA Governing Council has already, with apparently minimal pause for reflection or consideration of humanistic alternatives, endorsed The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies.

The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MCSJCC) are a set of policies that are extraordinary in their departure from the ACA Code of Ethics with regard to the indoctrination of psychotherapy patients. These guidelines prescribe professional behaviors on the part of counselors that are blatantly unethical.  One of these guidelines states that competent counselors “Assist privileged and marginalized clients develop critical consciousness by understanding their situation in context of living in an oppressive society”. Another states that counselors should “Assist privileged and marginalized clients in developing communication skills to discuss issues of power, privilege, and oppression with family, friends, peers, and colleagues”, and the pièce de résistance states that counselors should “Utilize the norms, values and regulations of the marginalized client to shape the community norms, values, and regulations of the privileged client”.  It is hard to imagine what a clearer invitation for ideologically inspired counselors and counselor educators to impose their beliefs, values and attitudes onto their patients, and their students would look like. 

The upshot of all of this is that the American Counseling Association, and far too many counselor training programs, have become dangerously unstable actors with which to trust the creation of policies protecting the well-being of psychotherapy patients. The ACA and the professors of counseling that populate the ACA Governing Council have established a pattern of sending wildly contradictory messages about whether the ACA exists to honor and serve psychotherapy patients, or whether it encourages their exploitation in the service of an oppressor/victim ideological agenda. What is very clear, despite the mixed messages from the ACA on this issue, is that the American Counseling Association has eroded the protections of psychotherapy patients from political/ideological indoctrination at the hands of ideologically inspired counselors and counselor educators. Moreover, with the adoption by the ACA of a decolonization oppressor/oppressed ideology, psychotherapists are well within the bounds of reason to be concerned about how ACA policies may impact Jewish persons seeking psychotherapy. 

So, what is to be done? Individual practitioners cannot ethically wait for existing professional organizations and counselor training programs to correct themselves. Rather, change must begin with individual psychotherapy practitioners. Ethically-minded counselors must clearly distinguish themselves from those who view vulnerable adults (and child patients in school settings) with ideological intent. This will allow psychotherapy patients to avoid running afoul of ideologically inspired practitioners who mistake psychotherapy as an opportunity to push an ideological agenda. 

Towards this end, I am announcing the creation of Society for the Ethical Practice of Psychotherapy, a non-partisan and culturally welcoming organization that places the welfare of psychotherapy patients ahead of ideology. The purpose of the Society for the Ethical Practice of Psychotherapy is to aid psychotherapy patients in finding counselors who have agreed to leave ideology at the door of the consulting room. This is accomplished by asking psychotherapists to make a number of public commitments to existing and future psychotherapy patients. These are listed below: 

• Psychotherapists treat psychotherapy patients with empathy and unconditional positive regard. Psychotherapists do not attribute negative or stereotypical qualities to psychotherapy patients’ race, ethnicity, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, occupation, and religious or political identity. 

• In conducting psychotherapy, or making psychological assessments, psychotherapists treat psychotherapy patients as individuals—not as avatars of demographic groups. As such, psychotherapists do not make assumptions about individuals’ situations based on their race, ethnicity, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, occupation, religious or political affiliations. Moreover, psychotherapists do not make judgments about individuals’ situations relative to the situations of other individuals from whom they may differ in terms of race, ethnicity, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, occupation, religious or political identity. 

• Psychotherapists recognize the dehumanizing effect that discriminatory behavior of all forms has on psychotherapy patients. Psychotherapists are prepared to professionally assist and advocate for individuals who have been the targets of discrimination. Psychotherapists understand that anyone can be a target of discrimination, regardless of their perceived social position. 

• Psychotherapists realize the inherent power differential that exists in the practitioner-patient relationship. In recognizing this, psychotherapists understand that psychotherapy patients are vulnerable to exploitation, including political and ideological exploitation. As such, under no circumstances should psychotherapists ever exploit their patients. Moreover, psychotherapists must never impose their beliefs, values, behaviors, creeds, ideologies or politics on their patients. 

• Psychotherapists communicate with patients and colleagues clearly. They do not use jargon or buzzwords in their communications without having already established that the patient understands them the same way they do. When important words have more than one meaning, psychotherapists are clear about how they are using the words in question. Psychotherapists do not use sophistry, or other forms of fallacious reasoning, in an attempt to persuade. 

• Psychotherapists realize that ideological trends sometimes influence prescribed practices within the field, but that while ideological trends are short-lived, the field of psychotherapy continues to develop over a much longer time span. Psychotherapists continually work to separate ideology from science. When using new approaches within the field, psychotherapists keep their patients fully informed as to possible tradeoffs and possible consequences of therapeutic endeavors. Psychotherapists keep their patients informed about the limitations of, and contradictions in, research findings pertaining to concepts utilized in psychotherapeutic endeavors. Psychotherapists rely on the scientific process, not ideological conviction, to determine the merit of therapeutic interventions. 

Interested psychotherapists, counselor educators, counseling programs, and counseling students who feel they can uphold the above commitments to psychotherapy patients can go to the Society for Ethical Practices in Psychotherapy webpage. There, they will be given, at no cost to themselves, ownership of electronic icons which they can place in their email signatures, on their webpages or in other relevant spaces. 

When displayed, the Society for the Ethical Practice of Psychotherapy icon will allow psychotherapy patients, as well as those who are referring patients to psychotherapy, to understand that the practitioner displaying the icon has committed to the ethical practice of psychotherapy. Practitioners of any political leaning can participate, as long as they’re willing to leave their political agendas out of their practice. 

In addition to assisting new and existing psychotherapy patients to avoid political/ideological indoctrination, the Society of Ethical Practices in Psychotherapy will assist psychotherapists to avoid political/ideological indoctrination. Increasingly, psychotherapy regulatory boards are requiring continuing education credits in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The Society for Ethical Practices in Psychotherapy will be creating a wide variety of content to meet these continuing education requirements. However, unlike most DEI trainings, we intend to produce content that is ideologically neutral, pro-human, heterodox, and based on the Enlightenment principles of rationalism, objectivity, compassion, truth, and fidelity to the individual. 

For several years now, too many counselor training programs and counseling organizations have been adopting strict, restrictive, and illiberal teachings into psychotherapy practices, using a variety of misleading euphemisms such as DEI, antiracism and anti-colonialism. The divisive ideology behind these pleasant-sounding terms, which has been so championed within the field, offers no solutions to troubling issues of discrimination and promotes destructive habits of thought and of relating. 

In turning towards the superficially alluring, but hollow and pernicious tenets of anti colonialism, so-called “antiracism” and DEI, the American Counseling Association, and too many counselor training programs, have turned their backs on the people they exist to serve: individual psychotherapy patients. It is now time for individual psychotherapy practitioners to begin to correct the mistakes of professional therapy organizations like the American Counseling Association, by stating publicly their intentions to practice ethically. And it is time for the creation of new counselor training programs and professional associations that will support them in these endeavors. 

Some of this is already happening. For example, the International Association of Psychology and Counseling—a professional home for psychotherapy educators and practitioners who value critical thinking over indoctrination—has already been created. The Ideological Oasis, an organization designed to provide ideologically neutral supervision to new counselors, has likewise been created. Critical Therapy Antidote is an organization that tracks ideological abuses within the profession. Members of the psychotherapy profession are showing interest in petitioning new universities that have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of truth over indoctrination, such as the University of Austin, to create graduate programs in mental health counseling. The creation of the Society for the Ethical Practice of Psychotherapy is another in the list of necessary solutions enacted to protect psychotherapy patients from the vagaries of shifting political and ideological winds.

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