Mental health facilities and practitioners commonly permit researchers
to have direct access to patients' records for the purposes of archiv
al research without the informed consent of patient-participants. Typi
cally these researchers have access to all information in such records
as long as they agree to maintain confidentiality and remove any iden
tifying data from subsequent research reports. Changes in the American
Psychological Association's Ethical Principles (American Psychologica
l Association, 1992) raise ethical and legal issues that require consi
deration by practitioners, researchers, and facility Institutional Rev
iew Boards. This article addresses these issues and provides recommend
ations for changes in ethical standards as well as alternative avenues
for conducting research using archival mental health records.