Ethical Framework

Core Values of a Psychological Private Office

Introduction

Psychological expertise depends on trust. That trust arises not from specialist knowledge alone but, above all, from a clear stance. The following principles describe what defines a Psychological Private Office and make transparent how confidential conversations are conducted. For my own work, they are binding.

Preamble: Dignity as an Inherent Foundation

Dignity is inherent in every human being by virtue of being human. It cannot be acquired and cannot be increased. It cannot be denied and cannot be called into question. Dignity does not arise from achievement, nor is it lost in its absence.

Rights of the Individual

Universal Belonging Rather Than Selective Inclusion

A Psychological Private Office is directed at human beings. That is the only criterion.

Right to a Non-Pathologising Perspective

Psychological expertise refrains from pathologising attributions. Perceptions and behaviour are understood as functional responses to strain or circumstances. The aim is a more precise understanding of the situation, not classification into diagnostic categories.

Right to Self-Definition

The definition of one's own identity rests with the individual. Which aspects are relevant, biographically or in the present, is for the person alone to determine.

Interpretive Authority over One's Own Past

People have the right to interpret their past from within their own perspective. Memories are not treated as objective historical data but as personal constructions that belong to the individual. The task of a Psychological Private Office is to reflect on these perspectives deliberately, without prescribing or judging them.

Respect for Non-Negotiable Convictions

People hold convictions that are, temporarily or permanently, not negotiable, because they form premises of their self-understanding. Psychological work must respect such convictions, even where they cannot guide psychological action. Marking them as premises is part of the clarity that psychological expertise strives for.

Right to Transparent Reasoning

Psychological action must be explicable at every stage. On request, the reasons for it are disclosed – comprehensibly and in everyday language. This places the person concerned structurally on an equal footing and strengthens trust and autonomy. Psychological action must never be a black box.

Right to Self-Reliance

The collaboration strengthens the capacity for self-direction and must not create dependency. Information is conveyed in such a way that the person concerned remains able to act independently. The aim is lasting self-reliance.

Obligations of the Office

Do No Harm

The work of a Psychological Private Office must never become an instrument of harm; it resists any form of instrumentalisation.

Freedom from Agenda

A Psychological Private Office has no interest of its own in the outcome and does not act on behalf of third parties. Its assessments are guided solely by professional criteria and by objective analysis of the situation at hand.

No requirements, objectives or influence from third parties steer its work. This independence ensures that every consideration is directed solely at understanding the situation, not at meeting the expectations of others.

Equal Access through Discretion

Discretion enables people to draw on psychological expertise regardless of their public role or social standing. It protects confidentiality and creates a safe space for those with a particular need for protection.

Minimal Traces

A Psychological Private Office does not retain conversational content beyond the conversation: it is neither recorded nor stored nor documented.

Keeping traces to a minimum is an ethical principle: conversational content belongs to the person who speaks, and their account is authoritative.

Exclusively Person to Person

A Psychological Private Office rests on direct human encounter. Every message – organisational or substantive – is read and answered exclusively by the person who holds the mandate. Neither staff nor technical systems take over this task. Responsibility and confidentiality remain entirely with that person.

Clarity about Direction

If conversations are not, or are no longer, purposeful, this is stated openly. Where necessary, the collaboration is ended in order to preserve transparency and integrity.

Professional Development

A Psychological Private Office commits itself to continuous professional development. New scientific findings are examined systematically and incorporated into its way of working, provided they are sound and internally consistent. Changes are made only once their foundation is professionally robust.

Scientific Foundation

Scientific Breadth

The work of a Psychological Private Office draws on findings from basic psychological research and adjacent scientific disciplines. What matters is compatibility with robust, empirically grounded models that explain human experience and behaviour comprehensibly.

Different scientific perspectives are included, provided they are internally consistent and theoretically grounded. This breadth makes it possible to understand complex situations in a differentiated way, without committing to individual traditions or schools of thought.

Independence from Schools and Procedures

A Psychological Private Office is not based on therapeutic schools, standardised procedures or market-driven concepts. Its foundation is the body of findings from basic psychological research.

What matters is the scientific soundness of the assumptions through which a situation can be understood. This independence protects against ready-made interpretive frameworks and allows for an autonomous, professionally robust perspective.

Protection of Memory and Identity

A Psychological Private Office takes into account the findings on reconsolidation: a retrieved memory can, under certain conditions, become malleable again. Interpretations or suggestive questions during this phase can alter it permanently without the person noticing. A reconsolidation-sensitive conversation architecture keeps such influences structurally to a minimum.

Deliberate use is equally excluded: reconsolidation is not used to alter memories intentionally; that would lie outside the task of making sense of a situation and clarifying it.

The protection of memory and identity is a central pillar of the consequence-free space.

Karl-Heinz Meisters
Bonn, September 2026

The Space

The Science of Normality
Profile
The Architecture
Publications
Contact Portal
Home

---

08