NCJ Number
95641
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: (1984) Pages: 11-21
Date Published
1984
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A therapist's treatment of a married rapist over a 2-year period is reported.
Abstract
The details of the crime are discussed, and the patient, Bill, reveals he had never intended to rape his victim. Rather, he had planned to expose himself, and possibly to masturbate. That his wife had been waiting at home for him, ready to offer him sexual release, was of no consequence. The therapist suggests that Bill's planned encounter with this victim and his ongoing history of having women watch him masturbate highlight his need to be admired by women. However, this need, coupled with three deaths -- a girlfriend (who committed suicide), his mother, and his baby -- triggered anger within him. In addition, the victim's resistance to him also triggered anger and possibly activated earlier 'bad' memories. The patient's lingering hatred, fostered by his relatives' rejection of him in his early teens, is analyzed. Bill's failure to work through the death of his girlfriend is discussed, and his ongoing relationship with her is shown to contaminate his present life. The patient's comparisons of his wife with his former girlfriend are shown to link the two women together. The wife had the possibility of becoming a transitional object for the patient, but failed when she lost their child after several months of pregnancy. The stages in the patient's treatment are described, and the need for treatment to change as therapy continues is emphasized. Ten references are included.