Nonmaleficence is the APA ethical principle that psychologists must avoid causing harm to clients in clinical or therapeutic situations. In AP Psychology it appears in Topic 5.5 (Treatment of Psychological Disorders) alongside fidelity, integrity, and respect for people's rights and dignity.
Nonmaleficence is the "do no harm" rule of psychology. The APA requires that psychologists in clinical or therapeutic situations avoid actions that hurt their clients, whether that harm is physical, emotional, or psychological. It's one of four ethical principles named in the CED for Topic 5.5, alongside fidelity (keeping trust and commitments), integrity (honesty and accuracy), and respect for people's rights and dignity.
In practice, nonmaleficence means a therapist can't keep pushing a treatment that's clearly damaging a client, can't ignore a client's distress, and has to weigh the risks of any intervention against its benefits. This is part of why the field moved toward evidence-based interventions. Using a treatment with no research support isn't just sloppy, it risks harm. It's also the lens AP Psych uses to judge historical treatments like the lobotomy, which caused massive, irreversible damage and would flagrantly violate this principle today.
Nonmaleficence lives in Unit 5 (Mental and Physical Health), Topic 5.5, and directly supports learning objective 5.5.B, which asks you to describe ethical principles in the treatment of psychological disorders. It also connects to 5.5.A, since the push for evidence-based interventions and meta-analytic studies of psychotherapy effectiveness is partly about making sure treatments help rather than harm. On the exam, this term shows up in scenario questions where a therapist or researcher does something questionable and you have to name which ethical principle was violated. If the scenario involves a client being hurt or distress being ignored, nonmaleficence is your answer.
Keep studying AP® Psychology Unit 5
Fidelity, integrity, and respect for rights and dignity (Unit 5)
These are the other three APA ethical principles named in 5.5.B, and the exam loves making you pick between them. Nonmaleficence is about preventing harm, fidelity is about trust and keeping commitments, integrity is about honesty, and respect for rights and dignity covers things like autonomy and confidentiality.
Lobotomy and psychosurgery (Unit 5)
The lobotomy is the AP course's go-to example of treatment-as-harm. Connecting it to nonmaleficence shows you understand why irreversible, poorly supported procedures violate modern ethics, and why TMS and ECT today come with strict safeguards.
Evidence-based interventions (Unit 5)
Nonmaleficence is one reason evidence-based practice exists. If a treatment hasn't been shown to work, using it on a vulnerable client risks harm, so therapists are ethically pushed toward interventions backed by research like meta-analytic studies.
Research ethics and informed consent (Unit 0)
The same "do no harm" logic governs research design from the science practices unit. IRBs, informed consent, and the right to withdraw all exist to protect participants from harm, so a study that ignores participant distress raises the exact same flag as a harmful therapy.
Nonmaleficence is tested almost entirely through scenario-based multiple choice. A typical stem describes a psychologist doing something ethically sketchy, then asks which principle was violated or upheld. For example, a psychologist who continues exposure therapy even though participants report severe emotional distress and ask to stop has violated nonmaleficence. Your job is to match the behavior to the right principle, which means you need to tell the four APA principles apart, not just recite them. Watch for distractor scenarios that actually test a different principle, like failing to disclose that a treatment is experimental (that's about informed consent and respecting client autonomy, not harm directly). No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but ethical principles fit naturally into AAQ and EBQ questions about whether a study or treatment was conducted appropriately.
Beneficence means actively doing good for the client; nonmaleficence means avoiding harm. They're paired in the APA ethics code, but they're not the same. A therapist who fails to help much isn't violating nonmaleficence. A therapist whose treatment actively damages the client, or who ignores a client's distress, is. On the exam, look for actual harm or risk of harm before picking nonmaleficence.
Nonmaleficence is the APA ethical principle requiring psychologists to avoid causing harm to clients in clinical or therapeutic settings.
It's one of four ethical principles in the CED for Topic 5.5, along with fidelity, integrity, and respect for people's rights and dignity.
On the exam, a scenario where a therapist ignores client distress or continues a damaging treatment signals a nonmaleficence violation.
Nonmaleficence differs from beneficence: avoiding harm is not the same as actively doing good.
Historical treatments like the lobotomy are the classic AP examples of what violating nonmaleficence looks like.
The principle helps explain the modern emphasis on evidence-based interventions, since untested treatments carry a higher risk of harming clients.
Nonmaleficence is the APA ethical principle that psychologists must avoid causing harm to clients during treatment. It's covered in Topic 5.5 of Unit 5, alongside fidelity, integrity, and respect for people's rights and dignity.
Beneficence means actively benefiting the client; nonmaleficence means avoiding harm. The AP exam tests nonmaleficence specifically, so look for scenarios where a client is hurt or their distress is ignored.
No. Informed consent is about telling clients or participants what they're agreeing to, which falls under respecting rights and autonomy. Nonmaleficence is specifically about preventing harm. A therapist could obtain consent and still violate nonmaleficence by continuing a harmful treatment.
Continuing exposure therapy after a client reports severe emotional distress and asks to stop is a textbook violation. Historically, the lobotomy, which caused permanent brain damage, is the course's biggest example of treatment that harmed patients.
Yes. Learning objective 5.5.B requires you to describe the APA's ethical principles in treatment, and nonmaleficence is named directly in the essential knowledge. It usually appears in scenario-based multiple-choice questions asking which principle was violated.
Connect this key term to the AP exam workflow: review the course, practice questions, and check related study tools.
Review units, study guides, and course resources.
Check this vocabulary in multiple-choice context.
Apply key concepts in written AP responses.
Estimate the exam score you are working toward.
Review the highest-yield facts before practice.
Put the full course together before test day.