Research plays one of the most important roles when it comes to the development of effective measures to solve mental health issues. However, research on human participants raises various ethical dilemmas that must be addressed. This research question is essential in explaining some of the ethical concerns addressed concerning mental health analysis. With my interest in taking a career in psychology, ethics will be one of the things I will have to implement. My desire is to use the findings in my future practice.
Evaluation of Sources
The three sources are credible and have the authority of being used in research. The authors have specialized in psychological research, which gives them the authority to make specific assumptions concerning the topic in question. Moreover, all the sources are peer-reviewed, which adds to their credibility as essential sources that a student can use to research ethical considerations that are important in mental health research. The journal articles were written in the last five years, which makes them timely for use. Research articles become credible when they have been written in the last few years. The fact that the articles were written in the last five years means that the information is current and not outdated. It also means that the research question benefits from having recently updated information, which means that meaningful conclusions and lessons can be drawn from the information.
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The articles are also relevant as they all address the same topic of ethics in psychological research. The focus of the research question is on ethical considerations in mental health research. The implications are that the three articles address all aspects of the research question and hence no extra research is needed. This relationship between the articles and the research question justifies the decision to apply them in the paper. Concerning the use of sources, the three articles have provided a literature review of the previous sources that have conducted similar research before. They have documented the sources of used in coming into the conclusions arrived at in the three papers.
The audience of the articles is those who are interested in researching about mental health. This may be students or psychology practitioners who are interested in the topic. For instance, apart from identifying some of the ethical challenges, the researchers have taken some case studies to illustrate the challenges. Consequently, the challenges are also discussed about some of the wider ethical standards of research practice. The authors are not biased as the articles are peer reviewed. The fact that people with experience on the topic write the articles means they have the authority to make assumptions without jeopardizing the quality of the research conducted. It is evident that peer-reviewed articles are only published if they are credible and conclusions made from the right assumptions and methods.
Confidentiality
This is the first theme that cuts across the three sources. According to Jain, Kuppili, Pattanayak, and Sagar (2017), the researcher should avoid any disclosure of information gained through the research to anyone else without the permission of the participants. Chiumento, Khan, Rahman, and Frith (2016) argues that is important for the researchers to ensure that everyone understands confidentiality, anonymity, as well as, the role of the researcher in protecting the rights of the participants. Hiriscau, Stingelin-Giles, Wasserman, & Reiter-Theil (2016) argues that the issue of confidentiality is more important when one is conducting research or analysis on minors especially adolescents. The researchers are usually in a dilemma on whether to inform the parents of some of the sensitive information as a way of protecting the adolescents from any form of harm.
There are some instances when mental illnesses are investigated with poorly established sensitivity and specificity (Jain et al., 2017). The dilemma is that failure to disclose results of the investigation is considered a violation of the participant's rights. On the other hand, some ethical issues emanate from disclosure of results attained using unproven markers ( Hiriscau et al., 2016) . The researcher needs to focus on building trust with the participants to ensure consents are attained from the clients or participants with ease.
Informed Consent
People who suffer from mental illnesses face some issues affecting their ability to make choices relating consent process, unlike other medical illnesses. One of the concepts related to informed consent is the provision of information where the details about the research protocol are outlined ( Hiriscau et al., 2016) . In most of the times, it has been found that the participants have misconceptions about the nature of the studies and the likelihood of getting benefits from taking part in the study. The other concept is related to competence concerning the ability of the participants to understand and make rational decisions (Jain et al., 2017). Although the information provided is adequate, research shows that consent in psychiatry is challenging for those suffering from mental illnesses, as they are not able to process information adequately. This may be based on changes that have occurred due to the illness or because of lack of awareness in the disease. The third concept is autonomy that has to be considered for participation in any research. The decision-making process should remain autonomous.
Researchers face some ethical dilemmas when it comes to determining circumstances under which to waive the parental consent. Some of the themes considered when it comes to parental consent include benefit to the minor when there is minimal risk of harm, the nature of research, and parental status ( Chiumento et al., 2016) . This analysis is based on the requirement that when researching with minors, informed consent must be approved by a person who is legally responsible for the child.
Diagnosis
This is the third major theme. All the three articles agree that the process of diagnosis is based on diagnostic criteria that consist of some subjective symptoms as well as behavior observation. These are constantly being changed to improve diagnostic classification. Some of the symptoms used in diagnosis can also be seen normally with the only difference being the severity and frequency. With the reliance on symptoms and observations, there is a relative lack of investigation and laboratory markers to diagnose mental illnesses (Jain et al., 2017). The possibility of misdiagnosis is often high in such a situation. The process of labeling a person as having mental illness usually causes some psychological and social consequences ( Hiriscau et al., 2016) . These include shame, blame, secrecy, discrimination, and stigma. The recommendation is that a researcher has to consider the psychological and social consequences of diagnosis ( Chiumento et al., 2016) . If the researcher has any doubt whatsoever in diagnosis, then he or she must first consider the person's interest over the interests of the research.
Application and Research Vision
Psychology is a wide field and ethics is important to ensure there is no harm to the participants and for the right results to be attained. Based on the interview conducted, ethics has to be the driving factor in everything that the researcher does. Working with clients raises many ethical dilemmas, and it is important for the researcher or practitioner to constantly research on emerging ethical dilemmas in psychological practice. In particular, working with mentally ill individuals especially minors. Working with minors brings out the question of informed consent from a legal representative of the minor. The practitioner has to decide on whether to reveal information to the parent or guardian and at the same time avoid causing any harm to the minor. I desire to practice as a professional psychologist: I will have some influence on some of the diagnosis that will be done on my clients. It will be my role to ensure that the diagnoses are made in the right way and without any harm to the client. Reducing psychological and social harm helps in promoting the dignity of the individual. I also look forward to applying the ethical considerations that have been identified in this research paper. According to the American Psychological Association, the ethical codes ensure protection for the participants as well as the reputation of the psychologists. Moral issues raise the question of whether the research is justified or not. For instance, if the research causes psychological or physical discomfort to the participants, then the researcher or practitioner should use his or her judgment to reduce the consequences. The findings from this study have affirmed the need to uphold the interests of the participants over those of the research.
The research coupled with the interview conducted reveal that it is important for an individual to always think about the ethical dilemmas in everything done. I look forward to always get approval for research through the right channels and always to uphold the interests of the participants over those of the research being conducted. The responsibility of the researcher is to ensure the participants are protected while there is no mistrust between the participants and the researcher. This research is in line with my future goals and aspirations. I look forward to making use of these findings to conduct further research on how ethics keep on changing and how psychological practice can be harmonized to promote all ethical aspects. I also look forward to indulging more on research to determine better ways of diagnosing mental illnesses. There is a high risk of wrongly diagnosing or diagnosing differently, which raises the ethical question of whether the findings are justified or not.
Conclusion
Whenever possible, any psychologist should obtain informed consent from the participants if they are capable of giving one. One of the ethical considerations is on whether the individual is competent enough to give consent. The practitioner should give the participants the right to determine if they want to take part or not. The determination should not be based on assumptions that the individual is mentally ill. The psychologist should try to explain the information on the consent in a way that can be understood by the participants. It is evident that research can lead to meaningful findings to the participants and psychological practice, but these findings should not be done at the expense of the dignity of the participants. Overall, my role is to assess any psychological or social impacts on the participant. If any of these impacts exist, then the researcher should put the interests of the participants first.
References
Chiumento, A., Khan, M. N., Rahman, A., & Frith, L. (2016). Managing Ethical Challenges to Mental Health Research in Post‐Conflict Settings. Developing world bioethics , 16 (1), 15-28.
Hiriscau, E. I., Stingelin-Giles, N., Wasserman, D., & Reiter-Theil, S. (2016). Identifying ethical issues in mental health research with minors adolescents: results of a Delphi study. International journal of environmental research and public health , 13 (5), 489.
Jain, S., Kuppili, P. P., Pattanayak, R. D., & Sagar, R. (2017). Ethics in psychiatric research: Issues and recommendations. Indian journal of psychological medicine , 39 (5), 558.
