ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to focus on sexual decision-making by describing two models promulgating a belief that often-unconscious processing leads to poor sexual decisions; both find latent psychological forces compel a professional to continue on to a boundary violation. A therapist, for example, is not the real target of a client’s romantic and sexual attraction but is instead a temporary proxy until unconscious issues are resolved. In their introduction to a 2017 edition of Psychoanalytic Psychology dedicated to the topic of sexual boundary violations, A. L. Steinberg and J. L. Alpert highlight the links between countertransference and sexual boundary violations, particularly noting the role of erotic transference. Mental health professionals whose primary human goods are unsatisfied might use a sexual or romantic relationship with a client as a secondary route to obtaining gratification all the while lacking recognition that this is a motivating force for their behavior.
