What do you do when you are attracted to your therapist?

The therapeutic relationship between a client and their therapist is unique. In particular, they push you, the client, to address what is called transference — when a client projects feelings that they have for someone else onto their therapist. For instance, a client might realise that they are attracted to how the therapist shows care to them because they were neglected by those in their life who were supposed to actually love them. Evidently, when a client bravely admits their feelings to their therapist, it could lead to much deeper therapeutic work pertaining to their interpersonal relationships, more generally. The American Psychological Association’s ethical code of conduct critically states, “A psychologist refrains from entering into a multiple relationship if the multiple relationship could reasonably be expected to impair the psychologist’s objectivity, competence, or effectiveness in performing his or her functions as a psychologist, or otherwise risks exploitation or harm to the person with whom the professional relationship exists.” The APA addresses the issue of “multiple relationship” between a client and a therapist — relationships such as friendship or romance — because they could cause deep psychological harm to the client.