The Palgrave Handbook of the Psychology of Sexuality and Gender

Exploring therapists' and psychology students' constructions of sexual refusal in heterosexual relationships: A qualitative story completion study

“…In her classic exploration of the permeable boundary between the consulting room and the wider culture, Hare-Mustin (1994) introduced the concept of a "mirrored" (therapy) room to illustrate how the same discourses that govern the outside world also shape what happens in therapy. Therapists are not immune to cultural and political influence, and therapeutic approaches are shaped by the underlying ideology of the culture in which they develop (Clark & Loewenthal, 2015).…”

“…Without a rigorous interrogation of the belief systems that a particular therapeutic approach draws on, therapists may become unwitting perpetuators of such beliefs (Clark & Loewenthal, 2015). Research suggests that therapists are impacted by taboos around, and a lack of comfort with, open and candid discussion of sex within the wider culture (Timm, 2009) and, furthermore, that the neglect of sex within training and clinical supervision are some of the biggest barriers to therapists discussing sexual matters with clients (Timm, 2009).…”