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Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment
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Constructions of Therapist-Client Sex: A Comparative Analysis of Retrospective Victim Reports

Eli Somer

University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, somer{at}research.haifa.ac.il

Irit Nachmani

University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Former patients' (n = 24) accounts of their experience during a sexual liaison with their psychotherapist (Therapist-Client Sex, TCS) could be classified as ei ther romantic (TCS-Romance) or as an abusive encounter (TCS-Abuse). During TCS, individuals in the TCS-Romance group reported having experienced overall better emotional states and more favorable perceptions of both the perpetrating therapists and the treatments they provided. Pre-TCS assessments showed that initially TCS-Romance subjects may have had a relatively higher regad for their perpetrators and the quality of their treatments than TCS-Abuse subjects, but these between-group differences disappeared when the same variables were assessed for two post-TCS periods. These periods were marked in both groups by deteriorated indices of psychological well-being. These findings suggest that a romantic narrative of TCS could have a shielding, albeit temporary, impact on the subjective experience of what is otherwise considered an abusive relationship.

Key Words: therapist-patient relationship • sexual exploitation • therapist abuse.

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol. 17, No. 1, 47-62 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/107906320501700106
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