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This first
edition of the CounselorLetter will address a significant issue
that has long been the source of many a heated and lengthy discussion.
This is a topic most therapists would rather not discuss at
all, that is, the incidence of therapists becoming sexually
involved with a patient/client, and the implications of such
behavior.
 First, it's important to state the law. Those of
you who are not from California should keep in mind that what
you are about to read is California law. For complete local
accuracy you should consult with your particular state's licensing
board or a local attorney to see if your state has specific
laws pertaining to the issue of therapists having sexual contact
with clients.
Until recently, there was no law against a therapist
engaging in sexual activity with a client in the state of California.
Such behavior has always been unethical and unprofessional,
but only recently did the California State Legislature pass
laws that also made it a crime.
The following information is quoted from the handbook
Professional Therapy Never Includes Sex, a publication
of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, 1020 N. Street,
Sacramento, CA 95814:
"Therapists
who encourage, ask for, or permit sexual involvement with
their clients are exploiting them. Professional therapy never
includes sex. It also never includes any other kind of sexual
contact or behavior. All therapists are trained and educated
to know that this kind of behavior is unethical, against the
law, and can be harmful to the client."
.....
"... Many people who are victims of this kind of abusive
behavior by therapists suffer harmful long-lasting emotional
and psychological effects. Family life and friendships are
often disrupted, sometimes ruined."
Moreover,
according to California law:
"Any
kind of sexual contact, asking for sexual contact, or sexual
misconduct by a psychotherapist with a client is illegal,
as well as unethical." (Business and Professions Code
sections 726 and 4982(k)).
"Sexual contact means the touching of an intimate part
(sexual organ, anus, buttocks, groin, or breast) of another
person. 'Touching' means physical contact with another person
either through the persons clothes or directly with the person's
skin.'" (Business and Professions Code section 728).
Sexual contact can include sexual intercourse, fondling,
and any other kind of sexual touching. Sexual misconduct covers
an even broader range, such as nudity, kissing, spanking,
and sexual suggestions or innuendoes. This kind of sexual
behavior by a therapist with a client is sexual exploitation.
It is unethical, unprofessional, and illegal.
If you have been or are a victim of sexual abuse
or exploitation by your therapist, you may be feeling very
confused. Many victims feel:
--- Guilty
and responsible -- even though it's the therapist's responsibility
to keep sexual behavior out of therapy
--- Mixed feelings about the therapist: protectiveness, anger,
love, betrayal
--- Isolated and empty
--- Distrustful of others or their own feelings
---Fear that no one will believe them, understand what happened,
or that someone will find out
---Numbness or nothing, and have nightmares, obsessive thoughts,
depression, or suicidal thoughts
--- Confused about dependency, control, and power.
Reporting
options in case of sexual behavior or misconduct
There are
four different ways you can report a therapist's unethical and
illegal behavior:
--- Administrative
action, e.g., filing a complaint with the therapist's licensing
board.
--- Criminal action, e.g., filing a complaint with local law
enforcement.
--- Civil Action, e.g., filing a civil lawsuit.
--- Professional association action, e.g., filing a complaint
with the professional association's ethics committee.
Each reporting option has its strengths and weakness, and
you may choose any or all of these options. However, please
realize that no one can make you report if you don't want
to. In many situations, an individual currently in therapy
will discuss sexual activity with a past therapist. While
he or she may strongly recommend that you report the activity,
you are not obliged to do so. Going a step further, a therapist
you are now seeing is not permitted to report for you, nor
is he or she ethically or professionally able to confront
the offending previous therapist.
Needless to say, situations such as these are very
complicated for everyone involved. If you are a victim, male
or female, hopefully you will be able to discuss your situation,
whether past or present, with someone you trust.
A recent study revealed that probably less than
10% of all therapists have had sexual contact with their clients.
However, 80% of the sexually exploiting therapists have exploited
more than one client. In other words, if a therapist is sexually
exploiting a client, chances are that he or she has done so
before.
By Dr.
Jim Hutt
As
a postscript to the above, I have included, with permission,
a piece of correspondence from an individual who has an additional
view of this issue that may interest many. The views expressed
in the following do not necessarily reflect those of CounselorLink,
and are soley those of the author of the email.
Every dynamic, every guilt feeling, every issue addressed
under your first issue about sexual relations with a client
are also what the client experiences with covert sexual and
emotional abuse by a therapist. However, since there is no
touching, and the therapist doesn't include his responses
in his notes, the client is left looking as if she were a
seductive client. This enables the therapist to walk away
looking as if he were in the clutches of a seductive client
and his answers to some of her questions were mitigated by
her seduction of him! Childhood trauma/incest survivors are
easily manipulated and seduced without even understanding
what is going on. The therapist may not have intended things
to get out of hand emotionally, but when he flirts, shares
his lunch, has pet names for her or her car, uses sexually
loaded responses to her questions eg. "how do I respond
if I see you in our neighborhood, or another function,"
He replies, "Scott Peck said he would have sexual intercourse
with his client in The Road Less Traveled and they did therapy
in the nude in the 70's". This recreates the emotional
crazy making she experienced as a child. It's covert sexual
abuse, that is something said or shown to arouse sexual interest
or response. In Oregon, it seems its okay if the therapist
doesn't touch his client physically. The local board will
not look at how the therapist started his seductive behaviors
long before the client started responding. They only look
at the net result, her letters to him expressing love and
protecting him by saying he could never feel this way. They
say its a "he said she said" situation and since
he is the clinician, it's his notes they believe. They can't
know he said her intuition was on target about his feelings.
They weren't in the room when he sat directly across from
her with his knees 3" from hers. They weren't there when
he looked deep into her eyes, quit breathing and quit talking
for minutes at a time. They weren't there the first time he
said "wow" to her, or called her his little beach
comber. What they don't understand, and being a board of mostly
pyschologists you would hope that they would, is the devastation
this causes. It's not just the physical sexual abuse that
nearly kills the client, folks, the subtle, covert emotional
kind is just as deadly. Please address this. Thank you, from
one so abused.
If you would like a copy of the publication from which the
entirety (with the exception of the above letter) of this
material came, send your name and snail mail address to CounselorLink
, put your request in the subject and body of the e-mail,
and one will be sent to you free of charge.
For more information on this subject, check out
Sex
Abuse By Professionals, and read the article by attorney
PAMELA K. SUTHERLAND.
See CounselorLetter #2, The
Facts of Life
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