Erotic Transference Through Countertransference: The Female Therapist and the Male Patient

Although sexual drama infuses therapy, and the sexual transference and countertransference reactions between female clinician and male patient are rich with potential, few theorists address the reactions publicly for myriad reasons. Parallel to the dearth of literature is the lingering belief that male patients develop only muted sexual transferences, which they have difficulty articulating. This article explores the prevailing theories and focuses on the female clinician's countertransference as the primary limiting factor in sexual transference. The female therapist, who may be unconsciously fearful of losing a boundary or being violated, may afford her male patient a less than optimal chance of understanding the shame attendant to his sexuality or the aggression that may be associated with it. Although sexual transference is the entree into the patient's psychic life, sexual countertransference is anathema, a double standard that is now coming under fire. Two cases are described in which men develop strong sexual transferences and engender strong countertransferences in return. Although these men were sexually overstimulated as children and possibly abused, they may teach us, from the processes they undergo, to extrapolate from their experience to other male patient-female clinician dyads.