Tuesday Morning Observations. Joey, The New King, and Recovery.

Free Joey Chestnut.

I’ve seen many pundits and commentators saying that the Presidential immunity ruling yesterday takes us perilously close to US Presidents having King-like power. If even only partly true, that is a bold move for the Supreme Court to announce this ruling three days before we celebrate our country throwing off the rule of a King.

I don’t pretend to know ethics for lawyers and judges but in my line of work as a psychologist, we are urged to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Conflicts of interests, even possible conflicts of interest, are avoided because of the harm and doubt done to the profession when a psychologist takes on a case or role in which there is a possible conflict. Again, I don’t pretend to know ethics for lawyers and judges, but as a psychologist who has done a lot of forensic work, I cannot imagine any scenario in which I would agree to work on a court case where my wife’s name had been mentioned as a party to the case. Even if I thought I could be impartial, the appearance that it would be reasonable to assume that I possibly could not be, should be enough to take my leave of the case.

While receiving a gift may not be expressly prohibited by the code of ethics for psychologists, it is incumbent upon the psychologist to show that the receipt of any gift is not a conflict, exploitive, or harmful to the client (or to the profession of psychology). Will accepting a gift have undue influence on me? Will I be less likely to challenge a client if he or she has given me a gift? Does accepting a gift become exploitative of the client? Does being known as a psychologist who accepts gifts cast doubt on my integrity/independence? My profession?

If reports are true, Supreme Court justices have accepted gifts of plane flights, tickets, vacations, tuition payment, vehicles, and houses for family members. Again, I don’t know how ethics for lawyers and judges work, but I can’t imagine how I could ever rationalize allowing a client to pay for a vacation, pay tuition for my child, or buy a or house for a family member.

Finally, I feel like this needs to be said with regards to addiction and recovery. There are many paths to recovery from addiction. The most important part of the journey is getting there, not how you get there. What works for one person may not work for another person. I see people getting caught up in their preferred way of recovery, sometimes to the point of discouraging if not outright trying to prohibit or denounce other ways of recovery as valid.

I get it, you may think Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous doesn’t have data to support it and is cult-like. The kids who have their daddy back because of AA/NA don’t care what you think.

I get it, you may think medications like Suboxone is just trading one drug for another. The father whose son is still alive and is able to be with him this 4th of July doesn’t care what you think.

I get it, you may think that those who have to go to rehab are just weak willed and it’s not like anyone made them do drugs. The husband who finally has his wife back after years of addiction doesn’t care what you think.

I get it, you don’t approve of how others pursue their recovery. Guess what? I DON’T CARE!