No abstract

The chairpersons of the state and provincial ethics committees and the executive directors of licensing boards were surveyed in regard to the frequency of complaints of sexual impropriety filed against psychologists during 1982 and 1983. The survey also concerned the disposition of the complaints and whether the psychologist alleged that the therapeutic relationship had terminated before the initiation of the sexual relationship. The findings indicated that a considerable number of complaints had been filed, that close to half had led to findings of violations by the psychologists, and that psychologists asserting that a sexual relationship had occurred only after the termination of the therapeutic relationship were more likely to be found in violation than those not making that claim. Implications of these findings arc discussed, and we recommend that the American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics be modified to include a statement regarding sexual relationships with former clients.Health professionals have long held that sexual intimacy between psychotherapists and their clients is unethical

In this study we expanded, updated, and refined a previous survey of state association ethics committees and state boards regarding the disposition of cases involving allegations of sexual impropriety. Findings revealed a dramatic increase in the number of complaints filed against psychologists for sexual impropriety. Also, all psychologists who acknowledged sexual contact with clients were found to be in violation, regardless of the amount of time that may have elapsed after termination. Last, we found evidence of complaints of sexual impropriety in nontherapeutic professional relationships, as well as violations of nonsexual dual relations. The implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations for practitioners and the profession are made.In recent years attention has been drawn to the issue of psychologist-client sexual involvement (Pope & Bouhoutsos, 1986). The deleterious effects of such involvement on both clients and psychologists are well documented (Holroyd & Brodsky, 1977; Sell, Gottlieb, & Schoenfeld, 1986; Pope & Bouhoutsos, 1986). The actions of state licensing boards (SBs) and state psychological association ethics committees (ECs) have also been recently researched. Sell et al. (1986) reported that a considerable number of complaints regarding sexual MICHAEL C. GOTTLIEB, PhD, practices independently in Dallas, specializing in families with exceptional children. A graduate of Texas Tech University, he is a Diplomate in Marital and Family Therapy of the American Board of Family Psychology and is a member of the adjunct faculty at Texas Woman's University. His research interests include ethics and distressed professionals. He is the 1988 President of the Texas Psychological Association. JOHN M. SELL, PhD, is the director of the Counseling and Testing Center and an adjunct professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University. He specializes in the management and delivery of psychological services on a university campus and is active in graduate training. He received his doctorate from the University of Missouri and is a Diplomate in Counseling of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is also a member of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists.

Hypothesized that (a) changes in the achievement orientation of 60 male undergraduates, as measured by the Achievement scale of the Survey of Personal Values, would be greater for Ss interviewed by a counselor performing an attractive rather an unattractive role; (b) change scores would be greater for Ss who were told they had failed an experimental test than those who were told they had succeeded; (c) change scores would be negatively related to S's self-esteem (measured by the Class 1 scale scores on the California Psychological Inventory); and (d) there would be a Counselor Attractiveness * Success or Failure * Self-Esteem interaction effect. No relationships between the independent variables and counselor influence were found, although the experimental induction of attractiveness was successful. Implications for a theory of counseling influence and future research are noted.

No abstract