Responding to therapists’ sexual abuse of adult incest survivors: Ethical and legal considerations.

Responding to therapists' sexual abuse of adult incest survivors: Ethical and legal considerations.

Adult survivors of incest are high-risk candidates for subsequent sexual abuse by their therapists. As with incest, therapists' sexual abuse of their patients has become known as "the problem with no name." In addition, many of the ways in which the profession of psychology and the judicial system respond to patients' allegations of sexual abuse by their therapists often parallel the responses family members and authority figures made to the original allegations of incest. This article discusses some of the complex interactions among therapeutic dynamics, ethical and legal issues associated with this professional dilemma, and outlines ways in which the profession might begin to address this dilemma.

Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health