Artykuł porusza zagadnienia etyczne, kluczowe dla prawidłowego kształtowania się relacji terapeutycznej. Autorzy odnieśli je do paradygmatu leczenia, pojęć zdrowia i choroby, a także istotności autonomii pacjenta oraz jego więzi z terapeutą. Stosowanie określonych zasad etycznych zostało zestawione z indywidualną etycznością terapeuty i pacjenta oraz relacjimiędzy nimi.The authors express an opinion that discussion on psychotherapy should be based upon its ethical dimension. In their opinion, the source of that are the expectations of the patient and the obligations of the therapist that emerge in a therapeutic relationship. In that relationship, the ethics of psychotherapy appear and develop, and are influenced by the ethical principles of both participants of the therapy. The authors suggest referring to the medical paradigm and medical ethics when dealing with ethical decisions in psychotherapy.The article also presents ethical implications of actual or nominal handling of mental illnesses and disorders, also in relation to psychotherapy. The influence of the specific position of the therapeutic relationship’s participants on the importance of ethics in this relationship is pointed out (the patient’s status as both the healed and the healer, and the therapist’s characteristic experience of carrying the therapy’s burden). The authors also refer to the issue of the patient’s autonomy in psychotherapy and investigate a related problem of the patient’s conscious consent to psychotherapy and the question of medical paternalism in psychotherapy. The article points out the issue of the therapist’s loyalty towards the patient, as well as possible limitations to the therapeutic dialogue determined by the psychotherapist’s and patient’s worldviews andethical principles. The authors reckon that because of the relational nature of ethics, the ethical problems of a psychotherapist are different in the relationship with every single patient and in each given moment of the therapy
