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Cosmetic Psychotherapy: Ethics at the Edge of Enhancement

Enroll in the Online Self-Study and complete the training on your own schedule.
3 Ethics CE hours available for behavioral health clinicians completing the Online Self-Study

Are your clients seeking more than just symptom relief - perhaps even personal enhancement? Cosmetic psychotherapy is an emerging clinical practice aimed at helping clients optimize rather than recover, inviting mental health professionals into a thought-provoking, ethical, and cultural dialogue.

As therapy continues to gain widespread acceptance, practitioners are encountering clients whose goals resemble those of cosmetic procedures - emotional enhancement rather than healing. This course offers an important opportunity to understand and respond to this shift in clinical demand with depth and ethical clarity.

Enroll in the 3 Ethics CE Online Self-Study for $75

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Dr. Corey Petersen, PhD, LCMFT, is a psychotherapist and communication scholar whose doctoral work examined how therapists’ language constructs what counts as a “problem”—and who gets treatment. Her scholarship spans psychotherapeutic discourse, diagnostic and marketing ethics, “bad therapy,” and professional prejudice, making her an ideal guide for a topic where words function like interventions.

Petersen delivers the training as a communication-based ethics seminar: grounding concepts in her dissertation research, defining terms, then moving into live “language audits” of clinical marketing claims and ethical codes. She presents multiple sides, invites you to form your own position, and uses guided reflection, real-world website copy, and Q&A to translate Guttman’s five ethical precepts into practical rewrites. The tone is invitational and autonomy-affirming—“you make up your own mind”—while systematically surfacing risks like medicalization and disease-mongering.

You’ll define cosmetic psychotherapy and position it among five common presenting-problem discourses (lay description, clinical diagnoses, ailing identities, enigmatic self, cosmetic psychotherapy). You’ll examine “good citizenship” and illness scripts that fuel optimization requests; contrast clinical versus aspirational marketing; work the diagnostic divide with coaching; and apply APA/NASW/AAMFT advertising standards alongside Guttman’s precepts to make copy truthful, complete, sincere, comprehensible, and inclusive. You’ll also navigate privilege, access, and insurance considerations ethically—without pathologizing ordinary life.

Corey Petersen Headshot

Instructor

Dr. Corey Petersen is a communication specialist and the owner of Communication and Connection Therapy. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Kansas, where her research focused on psychotherapeutic language and communication ethics. Prior to her Ph.D., Dr. Petersen earned a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Studies and Professional Communication. She has over 9 years of collegiate communication and psychology teaching experience and is currently a continuing education and corporate trainer. When not teaching, Dr. Petersen can be found working and meeting with clients in her private practice.

Key Takeaways:

  • A clear, working definition of cosmetic psychotherapy—and how it differs from treatment for clinical distress.

  • A practical lens for spotting medicalization and disease-mongering in “optimization” offers and marketing copy.

  • Copy-ready language guidelines rooted in truthful, complete, sincere, comprehensible, and inclusive communication.

Why this course?

  • Alignment with emerging client demand—without sacrificing scope, ethics, or credibility.

  • Translation of communication scholarship into day-to-day clinical and marketing decisions you make every week.

  • Protection of access and equity while honoring client autonomy and preference.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this self-study, participants will be able to:

  • Define cosmetic psychotherapy and distinguish it from traditional treatment models and coaching (diagnostic divide, scope, and claims).

  • Explain medicalization and disease-mongering and their relevance to enhancement-oriented care and clinician messaging.

  • Evaluate ethical benefits, risks, and boundary issues (autonomy vs. perfectionism; equity, access, and insurance constraints).

  • Analyze sociocultural scripts (“good citizenship,” illness scripts) that drive client demand and shape clinical language.

  • Apply Guttman’s five ethical precepts to revise practice websites, bios, and outreach for accuracy and inclusion.

Ready to meet “optimization” requests with ethical clarity and confident language? Enroll now and update your practice for the clients already walking through your door.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Instruction includes approximately 3 hours of video and a post-test.

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Availability: From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to attend: Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.

This program was recorded on August 15, 2025.

 

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