Potential abuses of power in psychotherapy

The purpose of the study is to develop a list of therapist behaviors which could be considered abuses of power. A survey of the opinions of therapists, counselor-educators, clients and prominent authors in the field provides the data for the development of the list. The study examines the following hypotheses: 1. It is possible to develop a list of therapist behaviors considered to be abuses of power. 2. It is possible to achieve some consensus among therapists, clients and counselor-educators as to what those abusive behaviors are. 3. It is possible to express those behaviors in clear, behavioral terms. In order to complete the survey, two instruments were developed: 1) an interview guide for therapists and counselor-educators and 2) a client self-report questionnaire. Listings of abuses gathered from these instruments were compared with information available in the current literature to determine areas of consensus. It was found that the three major subject groups agreed on eight of 10 major categories of abuse but there was no agreement amongst them at the level of behavioral specifics. Of the 71 behaviors delineated by respondents in the study, 50 were clearly stated in behavioral terms. There was agreement between two subject groups on 13 of the 71 behaviors indicated. The results of the study confirm that it is possible to develop a list of behaviors considered to be abuses of power in therapy (Hypothesis (1)) and to express those behaviors in clear, behavioral terms (Hypothesis (3)). However, the data presented here indicates that it is not possible to achieve consensus among the subject groups considered in the study (Hypothesis (2)).