In fact, there is no way for a psychotherapist to keep his own moral convictions out of his professional work. By
countless subtle indications he reveals and makes the patient aware of his moral estimates—through his pauses, his
questions, his tone of voice, the things he chooses to say or not to say, the emotional vibrations he projects, etc. But
because—for both parties—this process of communication is subconscious, the patient is being guided emotionally
rather than intellectually; he does not form an independent, self-conscious appraisal of the therapist's value-
premises; he can only accept them, should he accept them at all, on faith, by feeling, without reasons or proof, if the
issues are never named explicitly. This makes of the therapist, in effect, a religious authority—a subliminal
religious authority, as it were.
A therapist who approaches moral problems in this manner will, most commonly, encourage conformity to and
acceptance of the prevailing moral beliefs of the culture, without regard for the question of whether or not those
beliefs are compatible with psychological health. But even if the values such a therapist communicates are rational,
the method of "persuasion" is not—and thus fails to bring the patient any closer to authentic, independent
rationality.
A code of ethics or morality is a code of values to guide one's choices and actions.
Effective psychotherapy requires a conscious, rational, scientific code of ethics—a system of values based on the
facts of reality and geared to the needs of man's life on earth.
As I have discussed in an earlier book, it is my conviction that Ayn Rand has provided such a code of ethics in her
philosophy of Objectivism.^1 For a detailed presentation of the Objectivist ethics, the reader is referred to Miss
Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged and to her collection of essays on ethics, The Virtue of Selfishness.
It is not my purpose, in this context, to provide a detailed exposition of the Objectivist ethics, but rather (a) to
present the base or foundation of this system of ethics, i.e., the method of deriving and justifying the Objectivist
standard of value; (b) to indicate the general direction of this ethics; and (c) to juxtapose it with traditional religious
ethics, with reference to the consequences of each system for mental health.