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Ethical Issues in Sex and Love Addiction Treatment

NCJ Number
226473
Journal
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: January-March 2009 Pages: 32-54
Author(s)
Eric Griffin-Shelley
Date Published
March 2009
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article identifies ethical issues in treating clients with sex and love addiction, as well as how addressing these ethical issues can improve treatment effectiveness and reduce the risk of adverse outcomes.
Abstract
Clinicians are well-schooled in the importance of developing trust in a therapeutic relationship. Sex and love addicts often require considerable work in building this trusting relationship, which means there are many potential pitfalls and challenges for the therapist. Many sex and love addicts suffer from multiple addictions. Transference and counter-transference reactions must be monitored more carefully than in traditional addiction work due to sex and love addiction being an intimacy disorder. Unlike other trauma victims who tend to be overly needy, sex and love addicts act in a counter-dependency way by hiding their intense need for love and approval. This makes them difficult to engage, emotionally isolated, avoidant, and dependent on fantasy rather than real relationships. Ethical issues arise in complex treatment that involves intimacy issues because the therapist must be particularly attentive to identifying his/her own needs and managing them for the benefit of the client. Self-disclosure to the client must be restricted to brief and pointed examples that benefit the therapeutic process. Confidentiality must be strictly observed, as sex and love addicts are fearful at being shamed regarding their addiction. Other issues that must be carefully managed from an ethical perspective are re-enactment of the client’s trauma in the therapeutic relationship and boundary issues in the relationship between therapist and client. Other areas of treatment where ethical issues pose a challenge are recognition of multiple psychological problems, anger issues, abandonment issues, mutual or unilateral attraction between client and therapist, fear issues, and termination issues. Ongoing ethics training is a necessity and usually a licensing mandate for all therapists. 33 references