As in therapy, when we put ourselves in the knowledgeable hands of
anyone who will take care of us, "we transfer to them the feelings we
would have for an idealized parent," she says. Such feelings are likely
to flare up swiftly and strongly because the client--a woman in the midst
of a divorce, for example, or frightened about her health--is so often in
a state of heightened emotional vulnerability and need.
The boundless respect, even adoration, that arise are purely
situational--we want our doctor or lawyer to be all--knowing because we
want to believe he can really help us. But it's easy for the professional
to take these feelings personally and respond accordingly. The privacy
and confidentiality of the consulting room compound the danger, and a
professional who misuses the power given to him by a needy client is
unlikely to meet much resistance.
Sexual contact between teachers and students involves the same
abuse of power, and many observers say the same boundary standards should
apply. Indeed, romancing one's students, once a winked-at professorial
perk, has become the subject of harassment suits and ethical censures.
Regulations banning such relationships are becoming widespread: Ohio
State University, for example, recently forbade them as conflict of
interest.
Rarely do academics get any education in the exploitative nature of
student-faculty sex, or any training to help them avoid it. The
University of Alabama is a notable exception. There Beverly E. Thorn,
Ph.D., director of clinical training in psychology and sexual-harassment
counselor, gives a two-hour talk on sexual misconduct as part of a
week-long training program for graduate teaching assistants. "I stress
how a truly 'consensual' relationship cannot occur between faculty and
student," she says. "Students see a huge halo over the professor's head.
He can exploit that so easily, and some do."
A CRIME?
If the trend in other professions is to see sex with clients as a
major ethical violation, in psychotherapy it's fast heading towards a
criminal offense. Nine states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota,
Colorado, California, Maine, Florida, Iowa, and Georgia) now classify it
as a felony, with penalties that can include serious prison time. Similar
proposals are widely under discussion elsewhere. "It draws a line in the
sand," approves Gary Schoener. "We've had some repeat offenders who told
us they stopped when it was criminalized."
Lesser penalties--revoking a doctor's or psychologist's license,
for example--can't keep the offender from practicing psychotherapy, which
requires no license at all in most states. With criminalization, a
suspended sentence can be "a club" to get an offender to stop. But not
everyone is enthusiastic. "It's killing a fly with a sledgehammer," says
Gabbard. "A few of these people--the real predators--should be in jail,
but most should not; they need treatment, not prison."
Gutheil observes that complaints in some states dropped after
criminalization. "Patients don't want the doctor to go to jail. Lose his
license, his money, yes. But jail? People don't want to go that route. It
makes them feel sadistic. It's not the coin in which they want to be
paid."
Criminalization may also make it more difficult for abused patients
to collect compensation for damage from the therapist's malpractice
insurance, which generally excludes coverage of criminal activity. And
once criminal proceedings begin, control passes from the patient to a
prosecutor who may not zealously pursue a crime less blatant than murder
or assault. "Think of how prosecutors prosecute date rape. It's not
exactly at the top of their agenda," says Feldman-Summers. "Will this be
a top priority for prosecutors? I don't think so."
BLAME THE VICTIM?
On a popular talk show last year, two women described sexual
betrayal by their therapists. Then the audience had its turn. "She
submitted to sex of her own volition. That's not abuse," said one member.
"I'm enraged at this woman," said another. "She put herself in that
position."
Barbara Noel, one of the women who appeared on the show, wasn't
surprised at the reaction. Since she made her victimization public (with
the courageous help of advice columnist Ann Landers, to whom she
presented the evidence), she has encountered similar hostility--even in
rape support groups where she sought help. "People jumped all over me,"
she recalls. "They'd been raped by strangers and friends. But a
therapist? 'How dare you malign these wonderful people. It must be your
fault!'"
Such hostility toward victims of therapy abuse, especially from
other women, is far from unusual, according to Schoener. Behind it is
defensive denial, "a knee-jerk fear response. If the victim caused it, it
can't happen to you."
A similar denial leads to the "bad apple" delusion among
psychotherapists, that once the sociopathic felons are rounded up and
drummed out of the profession, everything will be fine, Schoener notes.
"Therapists like to wash their hands of it and say 'It couldn't be
me'"--forgetting that perhaps half the offenders are ordinary men and
women who would not have crossed the line but for the stress of personal
crisis and the spell of intense emotion that comes with the territory of
psychotherapy.
"We have to understand that this is a more dangerous line of work
than they told us in medical school or graduate school," says Schoener.
"We have to come to grips with our own corruptibility."
SEX AFTER THERAPY?
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