Original Paper The Attitudes of Therapists and Physicians on the Use of Sex

Caution Among Therapists
With regard to the possible benefit of sex robots as a therapeutic
tool, the general population [
26
] was more open-minded than
the therapists surveyed in this study. Therapists were even more
reluctant when it came to recommending sex robots in therapy.
This shows a hesitant attitude toward taking responsibility for
the use of sex robots in a therapeutic context. On the one hand,
this reluctance could be related to the experiences of the
therapists. Some therapists evaluate the development of sex
robots in line with internet and pornography and mainly observe
the negative effects of internet sex addiction in their daily
practice. On the other hand, technical and ethical questions
regarding treatment are not clarified, which can lead to
uncertainty and restraint. A differentiated evaluation of the
results in this context shows that not all therapists and physicians
have this restraint. Psychologists and sex therapists were more
critical concerning the recommendation of sex robots as a
treatment tool than physicians. This may be associated with
treatment-related considerations; especially, the majority of
psychodynamic psychotherapists in this survey will probably
also reflect the recommendation to patients from the perspective
of transference and countertransference phenomena. Therapists
could also ask themselves what bonding needs or experiences
of early childhood could be projected onto sex robots by their
patients. In the therapeutic context, the question of which early
object relationships are represented by the robot may be also
interesting. For psychoanalytically oriented therapists, the rule
of abstinence may play a role as well when it comes to
recommending sex robots in therapy. In contrast to systemically
trained therapists, psychodynamically trained therapists in these
interviews generally spoke out against a direct recommendation
of sex toys in sex therapy. These considerations are supported
by studies in which psychodynamic therapists were more critical
of new media such as internet interventions than, for example,
cognitive behavioral therapists [
38
].