Department of Psychology
Collaborative work with Dr Anthony Arcuri
Project One: Psychotherapists' Handling of Sexual Attraction to Clients [Drs A. Arcuri & D. McIlwain]
Athens talk [linked to powerpoint one]
Sydney talk [linked to powerpoint two]
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/richards/homeP2.htm
A word about the researchers...
Explication of conceptual frameworks for grounded theory study of
Psychotherapists’ handling of sexual attraction to clients
Anthony Arcuri and Doris McIlwain
The Researcher (Anthony Arcuri)
I explicated my conceptual framework by reflecting on, and recording in memo form, my research paradigm and my past experiences, beliefs, and recollections of the theoretical and research literature relating to the phenomenon of psychotherapists’ sexual attraction to clients. The research paradigm that I adopted was, in essence, constructivist. Specifically, I hold the belief that reality is constructed in the mind of the individual, and that the output of qualitative research represents an amalgamation of the researcher’s and the participants’ subjective realities arrived at through “their interactive dialogue and interpretation” (Ponterotto, 2005, p. 129).
Relating particularly to the phenomenon of sexual attraction to clients, my past experiences include my doctoral-level training in psychology, which has not included coverage of the topic of sexual attraction to clients, and my practice as a psychologist, which has been punctuated by occasional experiences of sexual feelings toward clients, and which has been guided by an integrative theoretical orientation, incorporating Self Psychology, Systemic Family Therapy, and, to a lesser extent, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). In addition, my beliefs about psychotherapists’ sexual attraction to clients include the opinion that the experience itself is acceptable, not unethical, and not concomitant with sexual contact with clients. Finally, my previous reading of the literature relating to the area of inquiry resulted in the following recollections: experiences of sexual attraction to clients are extremely common among psychotherapists; such experiences are commonly associated with negative feelings in these psychotherapists, such as anxiety, guilt and shame; such experiences commonly interfere with the therapeutic relationships in which they occur; generally, psychotherapists are reluctant to seek supervision regarding such experiences; and psychotherapy training programmes rarely provide guidance on the handling of such experiences
The Research Supervisor (Doris McIlwain)
The role of the relationship in psychotherapy in providing a safe site and means of effecting change was early underscored for me in my theoretical and practical training. The ‘neutrality’ of the therapist has been given a bad name within psychoanalysis. To Mitchell (2000) it suggests analysis mimicking a sterile operating theatre; evoking a certain ‘coldness of feeling’ he sees as having been recommended by Freud (1912/1957). Yet neutrality, as insightful avoidance of weighing in on the side of imprudent action or of moralizing, permits a therapist to bracket conventional morality for a more nuanced ethics of process, albeit with slippery slopes. Therapists’ attempts to bracket their own impulses, emotions and values to ‘evenly hover’ aim to give space to the client’s voices and urges in a relationship where s/he is safe, and free from interpersonal indebtedness and judgment. If neutrality is dispensed with in favour of self-disclosure that is in the service of one’s own needs rather than retaining paramount emphasis on those of the client, one trades a unique relationship for another friendship. Yet, codified too sharply, neutrality may repeat neglect.
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