During first meeting, he was very calm and open to how she is doing today in her role as wife and princess. It did not take long however to realize she is holding a lot inside in regards to her upbringing and thus rose some ethical points of view. As required we did discuss my responsibility to clients (principle 1) in that I will respect her rights as a client and make every reasonable effort to ensure services are used correctly. Also required by law was my responsibility to Cinderella that confidentially (principle 2) is one of the most important aspects of services being rendered.
However I did state that in terms of her mentioning anything in regards to harming herself our others that this agreement would not hold in this case. Since this therapy is not court ordered no waiver is necessary in terms of confidentiality. I have also made clear that I will maintain the highest of standards of professional competence (principle 3) and always continue to improve my skills to better help her. I stated to my client that I will not exploit the trust or dependency (principle 4) and will avoid multiple relationships unless they apply to family therapy.In this case exploitation will never be made on any terms. During any training while she is under my care, I will be careful as to always respect the dignity and protect her welfare at all times.
(Principle 5). As with other professional therapists, I will never accept a client that is already being seen by a therapist without consulting with that therapist in which we will work together to better help her. (Principle 6). Finally during our first visit it was made clear all financial agreements that were expected for services. Renville 7) It was made clear that I do not receive payment for referring to other therapists and will never exploit anything said in our office. Fee policies were also set and an agreement was signed accordingly.
I did state to Cinderella that I do engage in appropriate informational activities (principle 8) to better serve her in the best way possible. Many ethical issues did arise during our first meeting such as her mother dying after a long illness and father remarrying to a lady with 2 other daughters.We also discussed the ether dying and the step mother raising her, the issue of abuse did come in the form of Cinderella forced to clean the house, live on scraps and be treated as a servant instead of a child. In result of these I do believe Cinderella is suffering from a deep depression that began at a very young age. I do not feel she ever complete dealt with her mothers or fathers death in a way any child should. Cinderella admitted that she never talked about the deaths or mistreatment done by her step mother; she simply kept it to herself.
She tried to deal by developing people pleasing skills, maybe in hopes to forget about the pain. As you would imagine Cinderella although we see her as a beautiful girl does exhibit low self esteem and this will be an issue that will take time to overcome. Before our first meeting Cinderella has married, she went to a ball (this was the first time away from home and social contact) and danced with the prince till midnight at which she decided to leave without even telling him her name. To her surprise, the prince did track her down and asked her to marry him in which she said yes.This happened during the second meeting of the two; the prince was the first man to ever pay attention to her and as result married him after 1 week of knowing him. I do believe this quick marriage is in part of Cinderella confusing love with the desire to be rescued from a horrible childhood.
Finally I do believe the she has created a drama triangle in which she is playing the role of the victim, her step mother is the persecutor and the prince is the rescuer. As you may have already realized there will be many therapy sessions required to even begin to help Cinderella.Although I do believe she genuinely loves the prince she must face and deal with the issues of growing up before the marriage can truly survive. Without therapy I do believe it will be a matter of time before she goes back into her "old ways" as a people pleaser and not a wife.
Cinderella is a very complex case and is one that will take time before all topics are dealt with and she can move on to live a happy life with her husband and his family. I will do anything in my power to resolve all issues while maintaining ethical standards.If needed I will bring in additional harpists to help (with signed consent of Cinderella) together we will form a treatment plan for now and also a plan for the future outside of therapy. In conclusion, Cinderella is a beautiful girl with a background filled with deaths and abuse stemming from early childhood followed by a quick marriage to someone she only met twice. During therapy we will need to address low self esteem from the abuse, dealing with deaths of mother and father and many other depression causing topics that must be discussed.
All ethical standards that were mentioned above will be upheld at all costs.
