Digital Mental Health Services and Ethical Boundaries: A Normative Analysis of Telepsychology Practices
Keywords:
Telepsychology, Digital Mental Health, Ethical Boundaries, Normative Analysis, Health Governance.Abstract
The expansion of digital mental health services has transformed telepsychology into a central modality of contemporary care, generating complex ethical questions that extend beyond traditional clinical frameworks. This study employs a non-empirical normative legal–ethical analysis combined with a structured literature review to examine ethical boundaries in telepsychology practice. Drawing on peer-reviewed scholarship, international guidelines, and professional standards, the analysis identifies three interconnected domains: principled ethical architecture, socio-technical tensions, and integrative governance frameworks. Findings indicate that confidentiality, professional competence, informed consent, and crisis management constitute foundational boundary domains, yet these are increasingly shaped by platform infrastructures, algorithmic systems, and cross-jurisdictional regulation. The study further demonstrates that relational dynamics, commercialization pressures, and digital inequities intensify ethical complexity in remote care. A multidimensional normative framework is proposed, translating autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and professional integrity into operational pillars for telepsychology governance. The research contributes theoretical integration and methodological clarity, offering a structured basis for future regulatory development and empirical inquiry in digital mental health.
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