Its enough to put the wind up any well meaning but faintly disorganised and ill-disciplined psychologist. I recently recieved some information from the psychologists registration board about a deregistered psychologist. It prompted me to look at a facinating web site that gives a huge amount of detail about decisions made with regards to deregistration. It gives great detail about the kind of accusations, the evidence provided and the situation that has arisen. The web site is found by googling NSW Psychologist Registration Board Decisions. It has one case where a women psychologist fell in love with her Muslim client in a prison, and another where a male psychologist was treating his fellow christian clients with prayer after their satanic ritual abuse. very interesting stuff.
Anyway, one case caught my eye for lots of reasons. A male psychologist ended up being "reprimanded" for his poor treatment of a woman who he treated in a community mental health centre. She was a sexual abuse survivor and had been diagnosed with "Borderline personality Disorder." She had a history of intense and unstable relationships.
The upshot of the story is that they also developed an intense relationship. The psychologist saw her more regularly than normal and for longer. They had physical contact that included hugs, cheek kisses and caresses. They spoke aobut their intense physical attraction and they spoke about sex. The psychologist disclosed too much information about his sex life and history. He used "inappropriate" language. They became too close. But they did not have any sexual contact.
He argued that she complained because he would not have sex with her. Only after she was rejected did she get angry and "traumatised."
For me this is a master lesson in managing clients who "push buttons." Clients with sexual abuse histories often function on a very sexual level all the time. They operate on their sexuality. They prolong eye contact, they idealise verbally (eg, you are the only one who understands), they lightly touch, they stand closer, they attend carefully, they use familiar language. They (often) unknowingly invite us into a close, personal relationship. We sometimes fall for the subtle interplay between ourselves and our clients.
The repremanded psychologist did just that. He fell for his client and fought against his sexual response. He did not manage the situation well. He did not seek help from colleagues, or manage to hand her over. He did not recognise the warning signs early enough to change his manner. In fact he "went along with it" for too long. Very dangerous indeed.
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