Should a professional code permit sexual activity between psychotherapist and patient?

Sexual desire may have adverse consequences for the relationship between a psychological therapist and a patient. For example, if a psychotherapist is sexually attracted to a patient but wants to avoid any behavior that would reveal the sexual desire, psychotherapy can be impaired. The therapist may, for example, put a greater psychological distance between himself or herself and the patient, and this may induce in the patient a feeling of being rejected. Laws cannot prevent sexual desire from arising, but they can aim at curbing destructive behavior.

Several States have passed laws making sex between psychotherapists and their patients a felony for the therapists.

Pro: If a psychotherapist and patient fall in love, a natural development is sexual activity. Such activity need not be the result of any form of exploitation.

Pro: Where a sexual dysfunction exists, the psychotherapist can provide treatment directly.

Con: If the option is open to engage in sexual activity with their patients, psychotherapists run the risk of having their professional judgment clouded. Psychotherapists risk losing objectivity and therefore some of their ability to help patients. In the worst cases, unscrupulous professionals would consider their patients as a pool of potential sexual partners.

Con: Sex between psychotherapists and their patients causes emotional damage to the patients-damage similar to that seen in victims of incest: depression, fear of being used by those with whom they become intimate, reluctance to put trust in others.