Therapists' sexual values for self and clients: implications for practice and training

Therapists may be confronted with clients whose sexual values and behaviors are different from their own. To understand more about therapists' sexual values and how these values may affect therapy, the current study assessed therapists' sexual values for both themselves and their clients in the areas of premarital, casual, and extramarital sex, open marriages, sexual orientation, and sex in adolescence and late adulthood. Therapists differed selectively in their sexual values depending on their gender, religious involvement, and political affiliation. Therapists appeared comfortable working with a variety of sexual issues in therapy, and it appears that training in sexual issues is helpful in clinical work.