Final answer:
Psychologists are ethically required to end therapy when it no longer benefits or potentially harms a client. This aligns with ensuring beneficence and nonmaleficence. Scenarios warranting termination include lack of progress, symptom worsening, and psychological harm.
Step-by-step explanation:
Psychologists must terminate therapy when it becomes reasonably clear that the client is no longer benefiting from the service or may be harmed by continued service.
This concept is in line with the ethical principle of beneficence and nonmaleficence, ensuring that therapists do no harm and work for the benefit of their clients.
Circumstances that may lead to the termination of therapy include lack of progress, worsening of symptoms, or even potential psychological damage as a result of therapy, as suggested by Freud's theory on the importance of resolving psychosexual stages.
Additionally, in extreme situations, such as those described in Zimbardo's study where participants exhibit pathological behaviors, it is an ethical imperative to terminate the experiment or therapy to prevent further harm.