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precaryous
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Default Apr 14, 2019 at 06:04 PM
 
Thought this was interesting-

Sex Between Therapists and Clients

Table 2 presents the results when participants were asked to try to identify the most attractive characteristic of the client to whom they were attracted. The hundreds of characteristics were sorted into about 20 major categories. With the following two fascinating exceptions, there were no significant gender differences between the male and female therapists in mentioning the various characteristics. However, female therapists were overwhelmingly more likely than male therapists to mention "successful" as a sexually attractive quality. On the other hand, male therapists were overwhelmingly more likely than female therapists to mention "physical attractiveness."

Table 2 - CHARACTERISTICS OF CLIENTS TO WHOM THERAPISTS ARE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED
Characteristics of Clients to Whom Psychotherapists Are Attracted
The first number is for Social Workers . The second represents Psychologists

Physical attractiveness 175 296
Positive mental/cognitive traits or abilities 84 124
Sexual 40 88
Vulnerabilities 52 85
Positive overall character/personality 58 84
Kind 6 66
Fills therapist's needs 8 46
Successful 6 33
"Good patient" 21 31
Client's attraction 3 30
Independence 5 23
Other specific personality characteristics 27 14
Resemblance to someone in therapist's life 14 12
Availability (client unattached) 0 9
Pathological characteristics 13 8
Long-term client 7 7
Sociability (sociable, extroverted, etc.) 0 6
Miscellaneous 23 15
Same interests/philosophy/background to therapist 10 0

The data about psychologists in the above table come from a national study published as "Sexual attraction to patients: The human therapist and the (sometimes) inhuman training system" by Kenneth S. Pope, Patricia Keith-Spiegel, and Barbara G. Tabachnick, American Psychologist, vol. 41, pages 147-158

The data about social workers in the following table come from a national study published as "National survey of social workers' sexual attraction to their clients: Results, implications, and comparison to psychologist" by Ann Bernsen, Barbara G. Tabachnick, and Kenneth S. Pope, Ethics & Behavior, vol. 4, pages 369-388.

The findings of these and subsequent studies suggest that a significant proportion of therapists carry in their imagination sexualized thoughts, images, or fantasies of their clients, and focus on them when the client is not physically present. For example, in the 2 studies summarized in Table 2, 27-30% of male therapists, compared with 13-14% of female therapists, reported that while they themselves were engaging in sexual activity with someone else (i.e., not the client), they engaged in sexual fantasies about the client.
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Thanks for this!
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