A study group reviewed all known cases of staff-patient sexual relationships that had occurred at the Menninger Clinic in a ten-year period. It was found that the patients characteristically were treatment-resistant individuals with serious personality disorders who had a propensity to seek out affect-intensifying experiences. They were, for the most part, involved in lengthy intensive treatments. The male patients were primarily desperate and dependent people. Some staff members were young men and women for whom exploitation was a way of life. Another group consisted of isolated middle-aged individuals whose disappointment and despair seemed to resonate with their patients' feelings; they often entertained fantasies of