Side Effects (Essay Sample)

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
ESSAY
The movie entitled “Side Effects” directed by Soderbergh Steven is a psychological thriller-neo-noir movie that reflects a number of ethical dilemmas or violations, which can always be found in psychiatrist practice. The movie that involves a woman turning to prescription medication in order to handle the upcoming release of her husband from prison constitutes a number of intrigues including a conspiracy that can be employed to unveil the various ethical violations found within practice in psychiatry. Using the APA Codes of Ethics, this paper will identify the various ethical violations found in the movie “Side Effects” and the possible implications of these violations for both the psychiatrist and the client if left unchecked. The paper will further provide the progression of action that ought to have been taken for the psychiatrist.
The movie entitled “Side Effects” starts by an anticipated release of the husband to Emily Tailor Martin after serving a prison sentence of four years following an involvement in an insider trading. After sometime, Emily (Mara Rooney) while driving rams into a concrete wall in an ostensible suicide attempt. The psychiatrist assigned to her Jonathan Banks fears for her safety and thus agrees to release her from the hospital provided that she attends sessions with him frequently. A sequence of anti-depressants prescribed by her doctor, Jonathan Banks is not working. Jonathan contacts Victoria the previous psychiatrist to Emily who in turn gives a suggestion that Emily be put on a new drug called Ablixa. The current psychiatrist to Emily is very reluctant to place his patient on the new drug, which is actually an experimental drug until the time his patient attempts a second suicide trial by trying to jump on to a subway track. A bunch of violations in psychology are committed at this point ranging from confidentiality to therapy.
According to the APA ethics code, psychologists have the primary role and take precautions that are reasonable to guard confidential information acquired via any medium, and recognizing the limits and extents of confidentiality can be regulated using law or established by rules of institution or scientific or professional relationship. In most cases, insurance companies, employers, and other interested stakeholders usually ask the psychologists to give information regarding their clients. The ethics code stipulates that the psychologists may share extremely minimum information only when necessary. The code further states that the psychologists require being aware of the privacy limits and explaining the way the confidential records are kept. By Jonathan deciding to ask the former doctor to Emily, Victoria about new drugs when the first anti-depressants dint work, the APA code of conduct regarding confidentiality was violated.
The APA code of ethics also talks about the end of therapy regarding the prescribed drugs. The ethics states that the psychiatrist needs to be aware of the difference between the abandonment of a treatment and the termination of the same treatment. The psychologists are also allowed to ethically stop or terminate treatment when their clients are not benefiting from the administered therapy. Jonathan had an ethical right to discontinue the treatment given that it was not working, but was reluctant to do so even after consulting Victoria, which was another violation of the ethics codes. However, the medication was eventually stopped by Jonathan after another suicide attempt by his client. The new medication seems to work and thus enabled Emily to operate normally apart from the occasional episodes of sleep walking, which is a side effect of the new drug. Due to the effects of the drug, Emily stabs her husband to death experiencing the new drug's side effect (sleep walking). The question of the competence of the doctor also arises owing to the fact that he could not stop or discontinue the second medication irrespective of the side effects, which were obvious and harmful to the client and the other people around the patient. This is so given that Jonathan (Jude law) had ethical obligations to discontinue the medication.
Emily is taken to a trial where her doctor Jonathan fights hard for her acquittal. Emily agrees finally to an insanity plea deal and she is declared as not guilty provided that she accepts to stay in a mental clinic or institution until she is eventually cleared by a psychiatrist. Jonathan has a bad publicity because of the Emily's case and this leads to his colleagues leaving him and eventual removal from clinical trials. This implies that the district attorney may no longer be able to consult with Jonathan as Emily's doctor. Jonathan believes that there exists nothing wrong that he committed and thus starts an investigation into the case where he eventually learns about a conspiracy. The conspiracy investigations reveal that Emily was in a seat belt prior to the first accident and that Victoria was the only doctor (psychiatrist) who reported the new drug's (Ablixa) side effects of sleep walking. The investigations further reveal that Victoria and Emily had conspired together. According to the investigations by Jonathan, Emily went to Victoria to be counseled because Victoria had the same plight as her of being abandoned by a husband and the two women began relationship. The two women taught each other regarding the financial world and how to fake the psychiatrist disorders. They then faked the drug's side effects to manipulate the manufacturer's stock prices of the new drug and the competitors thus making a lot of money and becoming rich through the stock prices change.
An interesting violation is also depicted from the movie following the uncovering of the ongoing conspiracy by Victoria and Emily. The APA ethics code regarding multiple relationships state that one's psychiatrist is not supposed to be one's friend, sex partner, or client. This is because the psycho...