Sexual boundaries violation in psychotherapy: Factors, consequences and considerations

Abstract

The ethical committees of psychotherapy associations in Slovenia are being regularly confronted with allegations of psychotherapists' unethical sexual behaviour towards their clients. This is occurring despite professional and public debate tending to silence or ignore this significant and burning topic, and attempts to limit such behaviour have proved ineffective. (citation) We want to urgently draw the attention of the professional community to this issue of sexual boundary violations of psychotherapy clients and to encourage the profession as a whole to reflect and to contribute to solving this problem. In this article we define the phenomena of sexual boundaries violations in psychotherapy, its prevalence and current regulation and explain some factors and consequences of such unethical behaviour. In conclusion we also provide some suggestions for coping with this issue.