Sexual attractions in the client - therapist relationship - Psychology - Essay Example

apist has an intrinsic responsibility to understand this and be able to handle it - which means finding his or her own sexual gratification elsewhere… It is far better to assert your own boundaries than to transgress those of the client. (par. 13) Three most important features describe the context in which the client-therapist relationship takes place: “there is an expectation of trustworthiness, an unequal power relationship exists and the interaction occurs under condition of privacy” (Feldman-Summers, 1989, cited in Hall, 2001, p. 512). First, trust is expected, because it is this trust that makes the therapist-client relationship possible.

Trust on the part of the client is what makes him/her divulge even the deepest secrets in his/her life/self believing that his/her therapist would bring him/her “towards a healthy mind and healthy life” (Borden, n.d., par. 14). On the other hand, trust on the part of the therapist is more to him/herself that he/she could fulfill his/her responsibility to his/her client. Second, the relationship between the client and the therapist could never be equal, as the client relies almost fully on the expertise of the therapist.

In fact the therapist’s power over his/her client basically comes from the following sources: (1) aesculapian power – “ the power that the physician possesses by virtue of her training in the discipline and the art or craft of medicine;” (2) charismatic power – “the personality characteristics of the physician;” (3) Social power – “arises from the social status of the physician” (Brody, 1992, cited in Hall, 2001, p. 513); and, (4) “hierarchical power, the power inherent by one’s position in a medical hierarchy” (McMillan & Anderson, 1997, cited in Hall, 2001, p. 513). Thus, it is of vital importance that a ‘neutral, safe place’ be established for the client to be fully free allowing a therapeutic alliance to grow (Simon, 1999, cited in Hall, 2001, p. 512). And third,