Ethical Disputes and Norms of Exposure Therapy / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

Exposure therapy is a kind of behavior therapy that exposes patients to certain stimulating situations to make them tolerate and adapt. Based on the ethical perspective, this paper introduced the ethical disputes in exposure therapy from three aspects that safety and tolerance, patient rights and humanistic care, as well as professional ethics and moral risks of psychotherapists. This paper also put forward three ethical norms and requirements, including earnestly implementing the principle of informed consent, adhering to the principle of no harm in the whole process, and obeying the principle of confidentiality, in order to improve the professional level of exposure therapy and protect the rights and interests of patients and psychotherapists.