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Is Sex with Your Therapist Wrong?

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Declension
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23 Mar 2012, 11:38 pm

I wouldn't say that it's wrong to hook up with your therapist, but it would mean that you need a new therapist.



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24 Mar 2012, 12:59 am

Vexcalibur wrote:
Sure it is not "wrong", just make sure to get a new therapist. Because once the therapist enters your life as a sex partner, (s)he can't really be your therapist anymore, you kind of need someone who has neutral perspective of your life for that therapist position. Neutrality and being outside of your life is the reason why people need therapists at all, else it would be easy to just grab your mom/dad/s.o./best friend/whatever instead.


This. Therapists are better prepared than mom/dad/s.o./best friend/whatever because of their education, in my opinion, but otherwise I agree


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24 Mar 2012, 9:56 am

androbot2084 wrote:
Any thoughts?


The therapist-client relationship is a relationship where one
party clearly and necessarily has some power over the other
(much like the relationship between priest and penitent, especially
when the penitent is a child). The implicit possibility of coercion
in that relationship disrupts the relationship between equals
that is at the heart of sexual intercourse. Yes, it would remain
wrong for many years (7-10, at least) after the end of the therapeutic
relationship.



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24 Mar 2012, 10:59 am

AngelRho wrote:
Wait...what kind of therapy are we talking about here? I'm sure certain kinds of therapy might involve sex.


And I want Obamacare to pay for that kind of therapy then too!


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AngelRho
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24 Mar 2012, 11:01 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
Wait...what kind of therapy are we talking about here? I'm sure certain kinds of therapy might involve sex.


And I want Obamacare to pay for that kind of therapy then too!


I like it! :wtg:



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24 Mar 2012, 11:30 am

androbot2084 wrote:
Any thoughts?



Only if you file it as a tax deductible expense :)



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24 Mar 2012, 12:52 pm

I will always refuse to believe that my therapist is a sex criminal



slave
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27 Mar 2012, 10:11 pm

It would ALWAYS end badly.



MONKEY
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28 Mar 2012, 5:19 am

It's not wrong, just get a new therapist. People can't help who they're attracted to, if you go out with someone who happens to be your GP or something then you shouldn't be held back by some silly list of "ethics" that mean nothing.


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Chipshorter
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28 Mar 2012, 6:31 am

MONKEY wrote:
It's not wrong, just get a new therapist. People can't help who they're attracted to, if you go out with someone who happens to be your GP or something then you shouldn't be held back by some silly list of "ethics" that mean nothing.


There is an ethical issue with a client having a sexual relationship with a former therapist. That issue is that the therapist can be in position of power with there knowledge they have of there former client outside of a therapeutic relationship. This asymmetric knowledge can place a client in a disadvantage & possibly experience abusive behaviour from there former therapist.

I done training in psychotherapy so I know about the profession ethics of having any form of relationship with a client outside of the therapeutic relationship. In truth it still happens, I hear countless stories about this. Also non profession sexual relationships with psychotherapy trainers with there trainees, and supervisors with the therapists there give supervision to.



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28 Mar 2012, 7:09 pm

Sometimes the power dynamics between a patient and therapist can change.



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28 Mar 2012, 7:15 pm

Chipshorter wrote:
MONKEY wrote:
It's not wrong, just get a new therapist. People can't help who they're attracted to, if you go out with someone who happens to be your GP or something then you shouldn't be held back by some silly list of "ethics" that mean nothing.


There is an ethical issue with a client having a sexual relationship with a former therapist. That issue is that the therapist can be in position of power with there knowledge they have of there former client outside of a therapeutic relationship. This asymmetric knowledge can place a client in a disadvantage & possibly experience abusive behaviour from there former therapist.

I done training in psychotherapy so I know about the profession ethics of having any form of relationship with a client outside of the therapeutic relationship. In truth it still happens, I hear countless stories about this. Also non profession sexual relationships with psychotherapy trainers with there trainees, and supervisors with the therapists there give supervision to.


I became friends with my therapist. We had a lot in common. She was a little older than me, but we had been in almost the exact same situations in life and she ended up having the same agoraphobia and panic disorder that I had. She had gotten over hers years before and after her husband died she went to school to become a therapist and help other women in the same situation.

My situation would of course be different than for someone who was in a sexual or romantic relationship with their therapist. However, our therapy sessions didn't change at all when we became friends, and after I finished therapy and we only saw each other socially, our friendship didn't change either.


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28 Mar 2012, 7:16 pm

Sex with your therapist is not wrong sex with children is.



androbot2084
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28 Mar 2012, 7:52 pm

I guess sex with the therapist is not casual sex.



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28 Mar 2012, 8:28 pm

Joker wrote:
Sex with your therapist is not wrong sex with children is.


You are joking?



Chipshorter
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28 Mar 2012, 8:36 pm

OliveOilMom wrote:
I became friends with my therapist. We had a lot in common. She was a little older than me, but we had been in almost the exact same situations in life and she ended up having the same agoraphobia and panic disorder that I had. She had gotten over hers years before and after her husband died she went to school to become a therapist and help other women in the same situation.

My situation would of course be different than for someone who was in a sexual or romantic relationship with their therapist. However, our therapy sessions didn't change at all when we became friends, and after I finished therapy and we only saw each other socially, our friendship didn't change either.


That's great to hear that :)

A therapist's own experience of mental health does in my option help in a therapeutic relationship. A good number of students I did my training with had there own past experiences of mental health issues. I myself with suffering from unipolar depression and generalised anxiety disorder in the past.

Now your lucky with that friendship. I do know that sometimes that a social situation with a therapist might end up as a out of hours therapy session. I seen a therapist a few years back after I did my training, this therapist is friends a my grandfather (my father's father I haven't see him in years after he abused my mother), the two of us agreed is would be very unwise to work together as client and therapist. In the end thanks to my own understand of the professional ethics of psychotherapy, I made that decision.