Managing Therapist Anxiety in the Outpatient Treatment of Sex Offenders

The following article reviews the sources of anxiety when providing outpatient treatment for sex offenders. The authors discuss estimation and management of patient risk with this population. The authors address both external anxiety-management strategies-such as obtaining consultation-as well as internal anxiety management strategies-such as applying stress management methods to onself when performing therapy with sex offenders. The authors also address additional emotional factors that can cloud a therapist's judgment when treating this patient population.