Focus 5:483-492, Fall 2007
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association
Analysts Who Commit Sexual Boundary Violations: A Lost Cause?
Andrea Celenza, and
Glen O. Gabbard
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.
(Reprinted with permission from J Am Psychoanal Assoc 2003; 51(2):617–636)
1 An often cited prevalence study (Holroyd and Brodsky 1977) has unfortunately contributed to confusion regarding the prevalence of one-time versus multiple transgressors by failing to distinguish between multiple contacts with the same patient versus multiple offenses with different patients. That study also made use of the term recidivism in an idiosyncratic way to denote multiple offenses.
2 Masculine pronouns are used because most of the transgressors referred to us are male. However, we will briefly address particular characteristics of women analysts who have engaged in sexual misconduct.
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