Sexual acting-out in psychotherapy

Marmor, Judd

doi:10.1007/bf01872479

Cited by 40 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…To acknowledge and attempt to address the significant gender differences that have consistently emerged from the diverse national studies of dual relationships does not, of course, imply that men are the only perpetrators, that women are the only victims/survivors, or that victimization of male clients is somehow less damaging or important. As with the phenomenon of incest to which certain dual relationships have often been compared in terms of nature, dynamics, and consequences (Chesler, 1972;Finkelhor, 1979;Gabbard, 1989;Marmor, 1972; This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Section: Gender Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual relationships between therapist and client: A national study of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.

Borys¹,

Pope²

1989

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

253

232

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4,800 psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers were surveyed (return rate = 49%) to examine attitudes and practices regarding dual professional roles, social involvements, financial involvements, and incidental involvements. Half of the Ss rated the degree to which each behavior was ethical; the other half reported how often they engaged in each behavior. A majority believed dual role behaviors to be unethical under most conditions; most reported that they had rarely or never engaged in the behaviors. 10 factors (therapist gender, profession, age, experience, marital status, region of residence, client gender, practice setting, theoretical orientation, and practice locale) were examined for their relation to beliefs and behaviors. A higher proportion of male than of female therapists were perpetrators of sexual and nonsexual dual relationships. The professions did not differ among themselves in terms of (a) sexual intimacies with clients before or after termination, (b) nonsexual dual professional roles, (c) social involvements, or (d) financial involvements with patients. 10 specific training implications are discussed in light of the exploitive and clinically harmful nature of dual relationships.The American Psychological Association (APA) has long recognized the harm and exploitation resulting from dual relationships. The Ethical Principles of Psychologists (APA, 1981) require psychologists to act to avoid impairing their own professional judgment or increasing the risk of exploitation of their clients through dual relationships. "Examples of such dual relationships include, but are not limited to, research with and treatment of employees, students, supervisees, close friends, or relatives. Sexual intimacies with clients are unethical" (Principle 6a; p. 636). However, compliance with this principle has apparently been difficult for many psychologists: Dual relation-DEBRA S. BORYS received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1988 and is currently in independent practice. She and her coauthor were among the founders of the UCLA Post-Therapy Support Program, which provides treatment for clients previously involved in sexualized therapy relationships, as well as conducts research, training, education, and consultation regarding dual relationships in therapy and their consequences. KENNETH S. POPE, PhD, graduated from Harvard and Yale and is an American Psychological Association (APA) Fellow and Diplomate in Clinical Psychology in independent practice. He has served as Chair of the Ethics Committees of the APA and of the American Board of Professional Psychology, and he is a recipient of the Frances Mosseker Award for Fiction and the Belle Mayer Bromberg Award for Literature.

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Section: Gender Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual relationships between therapist and client: A national study of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.

Borys¹,

Pope²

1989

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

253

232

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The rapid deterioration in the psychological states of survivors of TCS is not unlike that reported in cases of incest, where children who trusted the touch of their caregivers or even enjoyed some of it, later developed severe emotional distress. TCS, actually likened to incest by Marmor (1972), was shown to produce reactions seen among incest victims such as dissociation, confusion, and mixed, often contradictory feelings (Somer & Saadon, 1999). Future comparisons of abuse histories, defense mechanisms, and psychological symptoms of TCS-Romance and TCS-Abuse victims should shed further light on this problem.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Constructions of Therapist-Client Sex: A Comparative Analysis of Retrospective Victim Reports

Somer

Nachmani

2005

Sex Abuse

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Former patients' (n=24) accounts of their experience during a sexual liaison with their psychotherapist (Therapist-Client Sex, TCS) could be classified as either romantic (TCS-Romance) or as an abusive encounter (TCS-Abuse). During TCS, individuals in the TCS-Romance group reported having experienced overall better emotional states and more favorable perceptions of both the perpetrating therapists and the treatments they provided. Pre-TCS assessments showed that initially TCS-Romance subjects may have had a relatively higher regard for their perpetrators and the quality of their treatments than TCS-Abuse subjects, but these between-group differences disappeared when the same variables were assessed for two post-TCS periods. These periods were marked in both groups by deteriorated indices of psychological well-being. These findings suggest that a romantic narrative of TCS could have a shielding, albeit temporary, impact on the subjective experience of what is otherwise considered an abusive relationship.

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“…Feldmann-Summers and Jones [31] found that a history of incest was the single best predictive factor of therapistpatient sexual involvement, followed by a history of severe psychopathology. Marmor's [39] view that such therapist-patient sexual intimacies are incestuous leads to a model in which such occurrences are the acting out in the transference of childhood sexual experiences of a traumatic nature. The loss of a caretaker that accompanied the original incestuous experience is repeated in the loss of the potentially therapeutic relationship, and compounds the retraumatisation.…”

Section: Determinants Of Patients' Vulnerability To Sexual Exploilationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Origins and Development of the Injunction Prohibiting Sexual Relationships with Patients

Leggett¹

1995

Aust N Z J Psychiatry

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This paper addresses the historical context, both ancient and modern, of the injunction prohibiting sexual relationships with patients. Reference is made to the increasing knowledge of factors predisposing to such breaches of ethical conduct and to the common dangers and consequences of sexual relationships with patients. Such research findings demonstrate adequate cause for the application of the injunction in all of the health care professions. The modern social context of liberal humanism and feminism, along with the recognised analogy with child sexual abuse, are considered as influences in the current resurgence of interest in the injunction itself.

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Sexual acting-out in psychotherapy

Cited by 40 publications

References 3 publications

Dual relationships between therapist and client: A national study of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.

Dual relationships between therapist and client: A national study of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.

Constructions of Therapist-Client Sex: A Comparative Analysis of Retrospective Victim Reports

Origins and Development of the Injunction Prohibiting Sexual Relationships with Patients

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