Course content © Copyright 2018 - 2025 by Michael Robertson, M.D.. All rights reserved.

Overview of the Course

Although this manuscript was originally written for psychiatrists, it provides an excellent overview of the historical roots of all mental health ethics codes. The first section, Normative Ethical Theories, reviews ethical theories and their relevance to mental health practice. The second section, Human Rights, reviews historical human rights violations in the context of mental health ethics. The third section, Applied Ethics, explores the process of applying ethical principles in specific settings and dilemmas.

Course Outline

Introduction
What is “Ethics”?

Section I: Normative Ethical Theories
   Social Contract Theories
   Utilitarianism
   Deontic Ethics
      Kantian Ethics
   Virtue Ethics
   Common Morality Theory
   Principles Based Ethics
   Casuistry
   The Ethics of Care
   Distributive Justice
   Moral Relativism
   Post-Modern Professional Ethics

Section II: Human Rights
   Introduction
   Pinel
   The Crimes of Nazi Psychiatrists
   Soviet Era
   Aboriginal Mental Health

Section III: Applied Ethics
   Introduction
   Ethics and Forensic Practice
      The Dual Role Dilemma
   Psychotherapy
   Involuntary Treatment
   Confidentiality
   Elder Care
   Research
   Consultation-Liaison
   Transcultural

Section IV: Appendices and Bibliography

TAKE THE COURSE

To take the course, review the manuscript, An Overview of Psychiatric Ethics, by Michael Robertson, M.D. (See links below). You can either read the materials from the website or print a hardcopy to review. At any time, you can take the test.  For this course, the individual Help-Feature for each question is not available.  However, you can take the test as many times as you like, until you pass.  You will receive feedback each time you submit the test for scoring, until you pass. We hope you enjoy the course and reviewing this valuable information.  To access a copy of the course materials manuscript in pdf format see the links below.  As with all our courses, you can review the materials in their entirety before making any purchase. For convenience, the manuscript is divided into four sections as follows:

Section I: Normative Ethical Theories
Section II: Human Rights
Section III: Applied Ethics
Section IV: Appendices and Bibliography