MAY 2000, VOLUME 28, NUMBER 1, Abstract 4
Sexual Relationships with Former Patients: Prevalence, Harm, and Professional Issues
Douglas Farnill, University of Sydney
Although there is strong consensus proscribing therapists’ sexual relationships with current patients, sexual relationships with former patients fall within a grey area of professional ethics. There is nothing to suggest that this is a more serious issue for professionals who use hypnosis than for doctors, dentists, and psychologists in general, but it could be useful for societies of hypnosis to provide more explicit guidelines for the benefit of their members and the protection of the public. Research literature surveying the prevalence of sexual involvement with former patients and the ethical attitudes of members of professional societies is reviewed. Despite the methodological limitations of this survey research it seems clear that some sexual involvement with former patients occurs, and that the members of the helping professions have not yet arrived at full consensus about the ethical propriety of such behaviour. Clinical reports of harm to patients are reviewed and the characteristics of therapists who engage in sexual relationships with patients are discussed. Over the last decade, several major professional societies have debated the issues and revised their codes of professional conduct. The American Psychiatric Association has recently declared an absolute ban on sexual relationships with former patients, whereas the American Psychological Association has specified a two-year period from the termination of therapy before a sexual relationship might be considered subject to other conditions and constraints. The ethical and practical issues are complex and there is need for other societies to discuss and clarify their positions.