Behavioral Psychology / Psicología Conductua (BP) is published by IMR Press from Volume 33 Issue 1 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the hybrid model (CC-BY-NC license or on a subscription basis), and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement.
1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
2 Universidad del País Vasco, España
*Correspondencia: Enrique Echeburúa, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del País Vasco, Avda. de Tolosa, 70 20018 San Sebastián (España).
E-mail: enrique.echeburua@ehu.es
Abstract
This paper reviews the most relevant ethical and malpractice issues in Clinical and Forensic Psychology arising in Spanish courts of justice. The main issues related to malpractice include: a) lack of informed consent regarding diagnosis and psychological treatment, b) mistakes in diagnosis because of professional negligence, c) violation of the professional secrecy and disclosure of confidential information without the consent of the individual in various circumstances, d) clinical negligence in preventing harm to patients or other people (suicide or homicide), e) negligence in protecting clinical records regarding the ownership of psychological records and data, f) involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and risk management with suicidal or violent patients and g) contradictory expert reports in courts. Suggestions for good practice in this field are considered.
Keywords
- malpractice
- Clinical Psychology
- Forensic Psychology
- Spanish courts
