Title: The intimate hour
Subtitle: love and sex in psychotherapy
First published: 1997
Description: Drawing on hundreds of instances of mutual attraction, from historical annals to interviews with therapists, patients, and clergy, Baur show that the stories to be told are rarely simple ones. Certainly there are clear-cut cases of abuse - and Baur is unequivocal in stating that sex has absolutely no place in therapy. But abusive relationships in fact make up only a small fraction of cases. Much more often, people find themselves occupying a gray area of emotion.

There are those who are lovestruck, enamored of the attention they find for the first time. There are those who feel an overwhelming sympathy that they believe is reciprocal. And sometimes there are those who are really, truly in love. But whatever their feelings are labeled, these people are left with nowhere to turn for advice or help, fearing scandal or professional censure. Baur brings uncommon empathy to their dilemma, whether they are male or female, patient or therapist.

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In fact, as she shows, feelings of love and attraction do not disappear simply because they are forbidden. Describing the famous and infamous liaisons of such figures as Carl Jung, Anton Mesmer, Otto Rank, and others, Baur offers irrefutable evidence that intimacy has played a part in therapy since the beginning and continues to barge in despite regulations to suppress it.

With a plea for common sense and open-minded discussion, she makes a powerful argument for confronting this issue in all its complexity, so that everyone who enters therapy - or is already in it - will be prepared to manage the risks of the intimate hour.
Subjects: Sexual behavior, Psychotherapists, Psychotherapy patients, New York Times reviewed, Sex between psychotherapist and patient, Love, Professional-Patient Relations, Psychotherapy, Professional Ethics
LC classification: RC480.8 .B384 1997