NAKED PSYCHOTHERAPIST

New York’s ‘Naked Therapist’: Psychologically unsound?

Self-appointed shrink Sarah White offers online sessions where she strips off her clothing to introduce “honesty” into the therapy process

posted on March 4, 2011, at 4:13 PM

Internet ‘therapist’ Sarah White strips down to put her clients at ease. Photo: YouTube

Best Opinion:  NY Daily News, The Stir, Psych Central

The video: Sarah White, a 24-year-old psychology buff, says there’s one surefire way to get people, especially men, to feel like they can tell you anything: Take off your clothes. So White has launched a business, calling herself “The Naked Therapist,” and charging clients $150 for hour-long, one-way webcam sessions during which she slowly peels away layers of clothing until she’s completely naked. (Watch a report on White below.) “The goal is to show patients I have nothing to hide, and encourage them to be more honest,” says White, as quoted by The Daily. “Freud used free association. I use nakedness.”
The reaction: “I don’t consider this therapy,” says clinical psychologist Diana Kirschner, as quoted in the New York Daily News. “I consider this interactive soft-core internet porn.” But arguably, says Jeanne Sager at The Stir, if “you’re terrified of talking about your innermost feelings,” seeing your therapist “get nekkid” could show you “how silly you were to be worried” about feeling judged. Oh please, says John M. Grohol at Psych Central. White has no real credentials. Taking notes while drooling clients stare at your boobs doesn’t make you a therapist. She’s just a “cam-girl” peddling “soft porn.” Watch White discuss her approach: