The Online Reporter
UWO Graduate School of Journalism
March 31, 1997
Research on abusive therapists
Two Toronto therapists published a study of sex exploitation by therapists
in 1991. Temi Firsten and Jeri Wine interviewed 27 women and one man
sexually abused by therapists. Over half the offenders were physicians and
80 per cent were married or in common-law relationships. Only one of the
offenders was a woman. Many of the clients had reason to believe their
therapists also abused other clients.
Firsten and Wine grouped the offenders into two categories. The first,
smaller group, included those who were poorly trained or isolated; these
therapists often faced a life crisis at the time of the sexual involvement.
Therapists in this group were not multiple offenders and had a good
prognosis for treatment.
Over half the offenders in Firsten and Wine's study fell into the second
group, who relied on their caseloads to recruit sexual partners. The
researchers wrote that "this category are the most dangerous to patients,
the most difficult to expose and governing bodies need to be especially
alert to them."
Almost half the abused clients did not find their therapists in any way
attractive. Some reported that the sexual activity focused exclusively on
pleasing the therapist.
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