Sexual abuse in therapy: gender issues.

OBJECTIVE That sexual abuse in therapy occurs predominantly with male perpetrators and female patients is a phenomenon that requires analysis in terms of gender relations. Such an analysis is undertaken here from the perspective of feminist psychoanalytic and psychosocial theories. METHOD Data informing the analysis are derived from assessments of 40 women who experienced sexual abuse in therapy. These women had mostly presented depression, 68% had a history of childhood abuse, and one half were themselves helping professionals. RESULTS The majority were seriously damaged by the abusive therapy. Offenders were chiefly male (90%) and most were senior, well-qualified therapists of high status: some were charismatic leaders or teachers. Such a group cannot be dismissed as marginal, deviant, or ill-informed; a more systemic analysis is necessary to understand how the professions spawn and sometimes protect offenders. CONCLUSION It is concluded that the professional culture mirrors fundamental problems of gender relations that inhere in the larger socio-cultural context where they are expressed in various forms of sexual abuse and violence. A cultural change requires better education on issues of power and sexual politics.