Ethical Principles Disrespected by Psychologists Within the Scope of the Regional Psychology Council of Paraná (1980-2020)

Abstract

This article presents a characterization of the ethical principles disrespected by psychologists within the scope of the Regional Psychology Council of Paraná (CRP-PR), Brazil, based on complaints received between 1980 and 2020. Five hundred seventy-six ethical processes covering six hundred fifty-three complaints served as sources, predominantly presented by clients and patients (or family members) of Psychology services, followed by the Psychology Council (ex-officio complaints). On ethical processes whose investigation resulted in a penalty for the person reported, the frequency of items related to "Dignity and Human Rights" and "Unrecognized or unregulated practices" occupied the top of the list of most disrespected. In the third position appear principles linked to "Preparation of documents," "Malpractice, imprudence or negligence," and "Contract, fees and information about service." Clinical Psychology is the area that concentrates almost half of the complaints in the period studied, followed by the areas of Psychological Assessment (proportionally more penalized than the others) and Legal Psychology. It is suggested that educational institutions and professional councils plan more assertive actions to qualify professionals and monitor the professional activity carried out in these priority areas to better qualify the Psychology practice in Brazil.