Analysts Who Commit Sexual Boundary Violations: a Lost Cause?

Abstract

The causes of sexual misconduct by analysts are discussed, as is the viability of rehabilitation for different types of transgressors. Common misunderstandings about the transgressor (such as the assumption of psychopathy and the likelihood of multiple offenses) are countered with a summary of data derived from the evaluation and/or treatment of over two hundred cases, most of them one-time transgressors. The typical characteristics of the analyst or therapist who engages in sexual misconduct are presented and discussed as qualities that are to some extent present in analysts generally. The temptation to deny this universal vulnerability is viewed as effectively replicating the kind of vertical splitting or compartmentalization that makes one vulnerable to sexual misconduct in the first place.

Too Much Goodness: Another Hazard on the Road to Sexual Boundary Violations in Psychoanalysis: Commentary on Dianne Elise’s “Unraveling: Betrayal and the Loss of Goodness in the Analytic Relationship”

“…To propose this, however, is still not to answer the question implicit in Elise's formulation: If we are all at risk, as Celenza and Gabbard (2003) insisted, then why doesn't everyone succumb? Is it because they, the "frail," fall, while we, the strong, stand tall?…”

“…Frailty and strength are mediated through it, magnified or reduced, even created or erased. I refer here to structural power, not personal power, even though personal power may be involved in one way or another (see, e.g., Celenza & Gabbard's, 2003, argument about the onetime-offending analyst).…”

“…Under such circumstances, and especially when self-care is not practiced (Harris & Sinsheimer, 2007), any analyst may be tempted to grab whatever pleasure she can. Could this particular temptation be one of the forces that render sexual boundary violations an occupational hazard (Celenza & Gabbard, 2003)? Say Baranger andBaranger (1961-62/2008): "If the analyst [is swept away] by projective counteridentification, perhaps because it is flattering to be the depository of an idealized, omnipotent figure of the patient's, the analyst is not doing his job, and the analysis fails" (p. 89).…”

Patients’ Pregnancies During Treatment: The Influence of the Analyst’s Psychology

“…We are better off if we consider its possible clinical impacts. Excessive anxiety and self-protectiveness about analyst influence discourages examination, which then tends to be limited to after-the-fact inquests into extreme boundary-crossing(Burka, 2008;Celenza & Gabbard, 2003).…”

Professional ethical beliefs and behaviors of clinical psychologists in Serbia

“…Tada je samo potrebno odvojiti "žito od kukolja", kazniti te pojedince i sačuvati ugled profesije. Klinička procena obavljena nad počiniocima "seksualnih prekršaja" u psihoterapiji, međutim, pokazala je drugačiju sliku o psihoterapeutima, koji čine ove prestupe (Celenza & Gabbard, 2003). …”