Speaker: Phoebe Cirio, MSW, LCSW
The NASW Code of Ethics is based on a set of core values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These values are stated in the affirmative as something we clinicians should strive for. Yet, at present, these core values seem too often to be absent from our public discourse, and are not demonstrated by leadership. In place of an emphasis on the worth of persons, we have the demonization of immigrants, toleration for the abuse of women, and the display of greed, avarice, and the use of high office for personal enrichment.

Many people are discouraged and alienated. These conditions create a perverse moral climate where there is no discernment of right and wrong, instead there is an elevation of narcissistic desire, and manic triumph which supplants creative interpersonal intercourse and mutuality. These conditions foster evil and offer no counter to it, which leads to a state of madness and chaos. Evil manifests, creating “an emotional distance and a deep insincerity, which does not allow for meaningful contact with others,” and “the hatred of and tendency to destroy the emotional meaning of life, itself” (Migliozzi). One remedy to these conditions is to speak honestly and clearly about it in a group setting where we can explore how we feel; we will examine these conditions through a psychoanalytic lens.