How Common Is Sexual Attraction Towards Clients?

The article starts off talking about all the documented cases of sexually intimate relationships between the therapists and clients, but goes on to say that very few studies deal with how the therapists handle their feelings and what it did to the therapeutic process. Giovazolias and Davis did a study that dealt with sexual attraction of counselor toward their clients and its impact on the therapeutic process. Giovazolias and Davis find that past study were difficult because of the taboo topic. The counselors were afraid of what their bosses or others would think of them. The study was conducted as follows, 286 questionnaires were mail out but only 122 were returned completed and15 returned not delivered. Out of all the people question only 27 reported never being attracted to any clients (Giovazolias and Davis). Among the 95 respondents who were attracted, 39 respondents were males and 56 were females. 9 people answered they were attracted to the same gender clients. The study then goes on to deal with the typical reactions to sexual feelings in therapy, according to Giovazolias and Davis the most typical reactions to sexual feelings in therapy are the following: surprise and shock, guilt, anxiety about unresolved personal issues, fear of losing control, fear of being criticized, frustration at not being able to speak openly, confusion about boundaries and roles, and confusion about actions. Another issues that they address are if the client should know and if disclosing their feeling will hurt or help the client.

In conclusion, the study is a very interesting and a surprising one. The study shows that a high percent of counselors have attraction to their client but most of the times are afraid to say anything because of what others may think of them. A neutral outlet should be available for counselors to talk to others who are feeling the same way. The counselors should work on dealing with it in a way to help the therapeutic process for the client. The client should also be told because if it is situations that will make the client feel uncomfortable, an ending of the sessions should happen as soon as possible. In addition to that, the educational programs for counseling should also involve the issues of attraction of counselor toward clients and how to deal with those feelings.

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