When we sat down to write the 4th edition of Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling:A Practical Guide (2011) we ended up revising and updating all chapters and adding much that is new.
But part of the process of deciding what to change included trying to figure out what would remain constant. Some basic assumptions shaped the prior editions. After considerable questioning, discussion, and rethinking, we decided that these assumptions continued to be valid, important, and worth maintaining, and that they would shape the fourth editions also. What follow is adapted from the 4th edition and repeats some of the basic assumptions outlined in all 4 editions dating back to 1991.