Patients Who Request a Female Psychotherapist

Abstract

Upon arriving at an outpatient clinic, many patients request to see a.female psychotherapist. Yet little has been written on this topic. The aim ofthis study was to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics ofsuch patients. We compared patients who voiced a preferencefor a.female therapist with controls on the demographic variablesrifage, sex, race, marital andfinan cial status and the clinical characteristicsrifdiagnosis, historyofsexual abuse, sexual preference, overt presence rif sexual or social dijficulties, history rifprior treatment, gender rif the previous therapist, and treatment drop out rate. A chi square analysisJOr categorical data was used to measure differences between the two populations. Wefound that patients who voiced a requestJOr a.female therapist weremore often white,young, orhad voiced sexual orsocial dijficulties in their chiefcomplaint. The treatment drop out rate ofstudy pat ients whose request was granted was greater than con trol patients who received a.female therapist. The requestJOr a.female therapist may be reflectiue rifan age or race based comfo rt in expressing preference, or related to specificpresenting complaints in the realm ofsexual or social relationships. Granting such a request without an understanding rif its significance may result in premature termination oftreatment.