Ethical challenges of practicing in rural areas

Mental health professionals practicing in rural areas face ethical dilemmas different from those experienced by their urban counterparts and may find that the existing ethics literature and American Psychological Association (APA, 2002) ethics code not particularly helpful. We highlight parts of five standards from the APA ethics code to illustrate the dilemmas rural practitioners frequently confront and offer suggestions for how to handle them. We discuss competence, human relations, and confidentiality as specific areas and then examine assessment and therapy as broader situations in which dilemmas may occur. We use case examples to highlight complications that may arise in rural areas.