Prior therapist-patient sexual involvement among patients seen by psychologists.

Therapist-patient sexual involvement: risk factors and consequences

“…To date, the factors that predispose female patients to such an abuse have not yet been the subject of systematic studies, but they have been inferred from clinical observation or theoretical speculation. These include: (a) cultural factors: the traditional female role is in line with the expectation that women are supposed to fulfill men's desires (Pope and Bouhoutsos, 1986); (b) personality factors: poor selfassertiveness, low self-esteem, weak ego strength, and emotional lability render patients vulnerable to therapist±patient sexual involvement (Smith, 1984;Pope and Bouhoutsos, 1986); (c) personal background: victims of sexual violence in childhood, in particular incest, or in adulthood are more likely to be revictimized (Smith, 1984;Rutter, 1990;Pope and Vetter, 1991); (d) psychopathology: patients with substance abuse (Vogt, 1989) or with borderline personality disorder (Gutheil, 1989) are at higher risk; and (e) social functioning: poor social skills, social isolation, loneliness, and discord in marital or other close relationships may encourage patients to long for intimacy. This makes them willing to accept inappropriate intimacy (Jehu, 1994).…”

“…The indirect approach relies solely on information provided by subsequent therapists (e.g. Bouhoutsos et al, 1983;Pope and Vetter, 1991). Thus, results are based exclusively on patients who had sought out subsequent treatment and revealed previous therapist±patient sexual involvement.…”

“…In most studies, predominantly harmful psychological consequences of therapist±patient sexual involvement has been found, suggesting a cause and effect pattern (e.g. Bouhoutsos et al, 1983;Feldman-Summers and Jones, 1984;Pope and Vetter, 1991). This inference has been questioned because of methodological limitations (Appelbaum and Jorgenson, 1991;Williams, 1995).…”

Personality disorder: its impact on staff and the role of supervision

“…Any actions that meet the needs of the staff member rather than those of the patient are ethically unjustifiable (Pope 1991;Peterson 1992;Thomas-Peter 2000). This is because such violations exploit power disparities and imbalance relations in favour of the more powerful (Llewelyn 2009).…”

Professional ethical beliefs and behaviors of clinical psychologists in Serbia

“…Istraživanja su nedvosmisleno pokazala da je seksualni odnos između kliničkih psihologa i njihovih klijenata u skoro svim slučajevima vrlo štetan za obe strane, pa da se pored pojačavanja simptoma, povećava i rizik da klijent izvrši samoubistvo (Pope & Bouhoutsos, 1986;Pope & Vetter, 1991). …”