Well, That Was Awkward: When Clients Develop Romantic Feelings for Therapists

Clients can develop feelings of romantic or sexual attraction to their therapists. From a cognitive-behavioral perspective, how should therapists handle these situations? Although the topic of client attraction is comprehensively covered in the psychoanalytic and psychodynamic literature, it is woefully neglected in our cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) focused training programs and literature. This paper aims to address this gap by using CBT principles to provide explanations for why clients develop feelings of attraction to their therapists. In addition, this paper offers general guidelines for how to manage client attraction from a CBT perspective. Three case vignettes are used to illustrate those concepts. Recommendations for future research and training in this area are also provided.