Assessment of therapists’ attitudes towards BDSM

Abstract

Participants in alternative or ‘kinky’ sexual behaviours are a sizable enough minority that psychotherapists are likely to see them in their practices. However, those who engage in bondage and discipline (BD), dominance and submission (DS) and sadism and masochism (SM) (BDSM) are concerned that mental health-care providers will view BDSM as evidence of psychopathology. This research employed an Internet-based survey of 766 therapists in the United States to assess therapists’ attitudes towards the BDSM community. Seventy-six per cent of the sample reported having treated at least one client who engaged in BDSM, although only 48% perceived themselves to be competent in this area. Attitudes towards BDSM were related to socio-demographic variables and self-perceived competence.

Keywords:

• psychotherapy
• BDSM
• sexual minorities
• attitudes

Notes

1. 1. We assume that recipients of the original recruitment email forwarded the survey link to interested peers. Although inclusion of these self-selected participants may bias this sample in favour of those with experience and interest in sexual subcultures, the initial, exploratory nature of the study benefits from inclusion of the larger sample size.

2. 2. Technical problems with the survey software resulted in a large number of incomplete surveys. The complexity of the questionnaire and high volume of simultaneous responses overloaded the survey site not allowing respondents to complete the survey. Some participants were able to finish the survey at a later time.