THERAPIST-PATIENT SEXUAL INVOLVEMENT - A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH

During the last quarter century, research has begun to provide an empirical basis for testing and refining our conceptions about the occurrence and effects of therapist-patient sexual intimacies. Published reports of research in this area have not only presented intriguing findings but also emphasized the importance of considering the methodological limitations (e.g., selective memory in retrospective studies, reporting biases, unrepresentative samples, and distortions in data obtained from secondary sources) that qualify those findings. Research findings are reviewed suggesting that therapist-patient sexual involvement may be systematically associated with a variety of factors (e.g., gender, age, the use of nonsexual touch in therapy) and may have significantly decreased during the last 12 years. © 1990.