Sexual Boundary Violations

Andrea Celenza is one of a handful of mental health professionals who has studied the problem of sexual boundary violations in the helping professions. Where others speculate, she brings years of clinical experience to bear on the subject. The result is a highly informative and comprehensive overview of the causes, consequences and casualties of sexual boundary violations. She maintains a humane perspective and offers valuable strategies for rehabilitation and treatment. All mental health professionals would be wise to spend some time with this superb new book. -- Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., chair of psychoanalysis, The Brown Foundation; professor of psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas An outstanding book that belongs in every therapy training program, but not just to help the trainees. It is a humanely and well-written reminder of our own vulnerability and the unjustified, moralistic attitudes that keep more people from seeking help when they are losing control. * PsycCRITIQUES * Dr. Celenza holds the various phenomena involved in sexual boundary violations by therapists and clergy to a multi-faceted lens of clinical psychoanalysis, supervisory consultation, psychological testing, empirical research, ethics, lawand that metapsychologically elusive human attribute called decency. She extends and deepens the existing knowledge in this realm while introducing many intriguing and useful novel concepts of her own. Avoiding the pitfalls of sentimentality and moralizing, Celenza unmasks the ubiquitous vulnerability to such transgressions and the profound damage caused by them. She delineates ameliorative and preventive strategies aimed at minimizing such betrayals. Unerringly compassionate in its approach, Celenza's work is a shining tribute to the essential humanity at the heart of the psychotherapeutic enterprise. -- Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sexual Boundary Violations is an essential text for the mental health field and should become required reading for therapists, analysts, teachers, and clergy. I am sure that we will use it in our training program as part of the required course on professional ethics. Comprehensive, well organized, clearly written, with numerous and often gripping clinical illustrations, the book not only reviews the literature but provides practical and helpful guidance for clinicians and clergy as well as for those who teach and supervise them. -- Lewis Aron, Ph.D., New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis Andrea Celenza eloquently captures the damageto themselves, their victims, their professions, and the wider social fabricinflicted by professionals and clergy who transgress sexual boundaries. Her incisiveness about the non-negotiable need for sexual integrity is achieved, however, without unnecessarily demonizing those who cross lines that never should be crossed. Rather, she combines clarity tempered with compassion in addressing the characteristics of perpetrators. Most importantly, Celenza insists upon differentiating among transgressors. She challenges us to appreciate the unique humanity and circumstances of people many of us wish to lump together and dissociate from consciousness. She challenges us instead to hold in mind paradox and contradiction. This book is a vital component of continuing education and consciousness-raising for all of us who vow first to "do no harm." -- Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, Ph.D., author, Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church Sexual Boundary Violations is an outstanding book that belongs in every therapy training program, but not just to help the trainees. It is a humanely and well-written reminder of our own vulnerability and the unjustified, moralistic attitudes that keep more people from seeking help when they are losin

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