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How Clients Are Harmed by Sexual Contact with Mental Health Professionals: The Syndrome and Its Prevalence
Author(s) -
POPE KENNETH S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1988.tb02587.x
Subject(s) - ambivalence , anxiety , psychology , feeling , psychiatry , confusion , depression (economics) , rage (emotion) , spouse , clinical psychology , sexual abuse , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , medical emergency , social psychology , sociology , anthropology , psychoanalysis , economics , macroeconomics
Research concerning the prevalence, varieties, contributing factors, and harmful consequences of sexual intimacies with clients (occurring either prior to or subsequent to termination) is reviewed. The sequelae of therapist‐client sex may form a distinct syndrome, with similarities to Rape Response Syndrome, Battered Spouse Syndrome, reaction to incest, response to child abuse, and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder. Aspects of Therapist‐Patient Sex Syndrome include: (a) ambivalence, (b) a sense of guilt, (c) feelings of emptiness and isolation, (d) sexual confusion, (e) impaired ability to trust, (f) identity, boundary, and role confusion, (g) emotional lability (frequently involving severe depression and acute anxiety), (k) suppressed rage, (i) increased suicidal risk, and (j) cognitive dysfunction (especially in the areas of attention and concentration, frequently involving flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and unbidden images).