Transgression or taboo? An existential-phenomenological conceptualisation of erotic desire in the therapeutic encounter

<p dir="ltr">I undertake an existential-phenomenological analysis of erotic desire in the therapeutic encounter. In clinical psychotherapeutic practice, the emergence of erotic desire is predominantly interpreted through the psychoanalytic frames of transference and countertransference. I analyse these paradigms and argue that they disembody desire and obscure the present moment intercorporeal connection between client and therapist. The existing guidelines also compound structural power disparities in the clinical setting, such that they not only constitute a misrepresentation of desire, but have significant ethical and existential ramifications for clients, therapists, and therapeutic practice as a whole. In response, I offer an alternative analysis of erotic desire in the therapeutic space. This analysis foregrounds intercorporeality, bodily intentionality, and interaffectivity to emphasise how bodies extend toward and shape one another, co-constructing desire in the therapeutic space. I reframe erotic desire as a form of intentionality that subtends bodily comportment and acts as an expression of purposefulness and transcendence. I argue that the dominant discourses surrounding this phenomenon tend to shame, pathologise, and repress desire, limiting therapists’ capacities to respond meaningfully in practice, and failing to harness the existentially transformative potential of desire for clients. This existential-phenomenological account prioritises aspects of erotic desire that represent the expansion of self, becoming, and being-in-the-world. In closing, I suggest the need for more nuanced ethical guidelines and scholarship that can counter the dominant pathologising discourses prevalent in clinical guidelines by attending to desire’s existential, intercorporeal, and temporal dimensions.</p>