Posted by Dinah on October 7, 2008, at 17:09:04
In reply to Mutual attraction, posted by Suedehead on October 6, 2008, at 18:53:35
It's bound to affect the relationship and the therapy. Any personal investment of the therapist in the client can do that, and IMO it's never entirely beneficial. Which is not to say it can't be beneficial in some ways and the balance of beneficial/not beneficial would vary a lot. But it's important to be aware of the ways it interferes with therapy.
I don't think I could do effective therapy with someone I found sexually attractive. Even apart from the temptation to focus on the sexual tension, there are things to be discussed in therapy that are decidedly unsexy. I think it would be hard for me to be as ugly as I needed to be sometimes under that situation. (And I'm not talking physically ugly now, tho sexual attraction is certainly not anything I need to worry about anymore.) There is a huge biological imperative to do the human equivalent of the mating dance around a potential partner. Would you find it difficult to discuss, just for an example, how your anxiety causes your IBS to act up?
I suppose it also depends a lot on how much this is a pattern in your life. Do you find that you link sexual attractiveness with feeling cared for, valuable and powerful? If so, is it, or has it been, a problem in your life?
poster:Dinah
thread:856082
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20081005/msgs/856255.html