It is impossible, at this time, to judge the impact of therapist gender on therapy outcome. Yet preliminary reports suggest that therapist gender facilitates or hinders in special circumstances (Zetzel, 1966) ; (Goz, 1973). Because initial resistance can thwart effective therapy, I generally honour the patient's request if a well-trained analyst is available. This is the policy advocated by Greenacre (1959) 'if a little discussion indicates that this is a definitely established attitude of the patient's, I myself always treat it with the utmost respect and compliance, since I recognize that such a patient really would

find it difficult, if not impossible, to work with an analyst of the undesired sex'.