Sexual Boundary Violations

This book addresses training, supervisory, and therapeutic issues related to the consequences from sexual boundary violations among mental health professionals and clergy. These problems are discussed on theoretical and practical levels aimed at understanding, recovery, rehabilitation, training, and prevention. This book can be used in developing training, educative, and preventative programs aimed at supporting professionals of all mental health disciplines. This book provides professionals with a resource on how to understand the problem of sexual misconduct from a variety of perspectives, including precursors, risk factors, supervisory concerns, psychodynamic underpinnings, preventative methods, and rehabilitation efforts.

Andrea Celenza, PhD, is an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School. She has authored and presented numerous papers on therapists who have engaged in sexual misconduct with a focus on training, supervisory, and rehabilitation issues. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Karl A. Menninger Memorial Award, the Felix & Helena Deutsch Prize, and the Symonds Prize. She is in private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts.

1 Acknowledgments 2 Foreword 3 Introduction Part 4 I. Nature and Scope of the Problem Chapter 5 1. How Do They Happen? Chapter 6 2. This Couldn't Happen to Me Chapter 7 3. Precursors to Therapist Sexual Misconduct Chapter 8 4. When is a Couch Just a Couch? Chapter 9 5. The Therapeutic Context Chapter 10 6. Academic and Supervisory Contexts Chapter 11 7. Sexual Misconduct in the Clergy Part 12 II. Reporting, Fallout, and Recovery Chapter 13 8. Reporting and Other Ethical Responsibilities Chapter 14 9. Collateral Damage and Recovery Chapter 15 10. Helping the Victims Part 16 III. Rehabilitation Chapter 17 11. Therapy of the Transgressor Chapter 18 12. Helping the Helpers: Supervision of the Transgressor Part 19 IV. Prevention Chapter 20 13. Responsible Responsivity Chapter 21 14. Love and Hate in the Countertransference: Preventing Violations Through Supervision Chapter 22 15. Boundary Violations Vulnerability Index (BVVI) Chapter 23 16. Teaching Boundaries, Experiencing Boundaries 24 Appendices: Empirical Research 25 Appendix A: Personal and Interpersonal Characteristics of Transgressors: Co-investigator: Mark Hilsenroth 26 Appendix B: A Rorschach Investigation: Co-investigator: Mark Hilsenroth 27 References 28 Index 29 About the Author