Posted by Dinah on October 7, 2003, at 8:45:14
In reply to Please read...Code of Ethics Therapy, posted by jay on October 7, 2003, at 8:13:22
> Hey folks:
>
> I have noticed a number of folks who mention extensive attraction to their therapist, which is with no mistake, transference. What you must realize is that this is one of the ultimate *sins* in counselling. Therapists are usually obligated to terminate the client-patient relationship if this occurs. Therapists can face criminal charges and lose their license to practice if they operate outside the boundaries of a client-patient relationship at all.
>Whoa, Jay. Gotta say that isn't at all correct. If a therapist terminated every client who was sexually attracted to them, they wouldn't have many left. It is *not* unethical to be the recipient of an erotic transference. It is not even unethical to feel sexual attraction to a client. It *is* unethical to act on that attraction. I don't want people to be scared to mention their erotic transferences for fear they will be terminated. It is *very* important to bring up that sort of material in therapy. Erotic feelings are a natural result of an artificially intimate relationship, are nothing to be ashamed of, and will not end in a person's rejection or termination with a therapist. I would go so far as to say that a therapist who terminates with a client because the client is sexually attracted to them has absolutely no business in the field.
Sorry, Jay. But this is a board that many people come to with their transference issues, and I just don't want people to get the idea that feeling erotic feelings for their therapist will cause their therapist to terminate them.
Only a therapist's *actions* (including words as actions) can be considered unethical.
poster:Dinah
thread:266267
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030925/msgs/266275.html