Psychotherapy, Distributive Justice, and Social Work: Part 2: Psychotherapy and the Pursuit of Justice

This is the second part of a two-part article analyzing the relation between psychotherapy and social work. Part 1 used Rawls's theory of justice to argue that the goal of social work is distributive justice. Part 2 attempts to resolve the traditional tension in social work between clinical and justice concerns by showing that certain kinds of clinical intervention are an integral part of the pursuit of justice. Expanding on elements of Rawls's account, it is argued that a wide variety of psychological goods essential to effective goal-oriented action, ranging from self-respect and self-esteem to social skills and assertiveness, are relevant to justice, and that clinical intervention to influence the distribution of these traits is part of the essential domain of social work. Clinical social work thus aims at psychological justice and is conceptually distinct from standard psychotherapy, which aims at mental health. Despite this conceptual distinction, standard psychotherapy is still a legitimate "derived" task of the social work profession, assigned to clinical social workers because they have the appropriate skills to fill a social need for mental health professionals.