A new technique for handling sexually abusive calls to telephone crisis lines.

Sexually abusive calls interfere with the legitimate functions of crisis lines and have detrimental effects on crisis line workers. This paper describes a new approach to responding to such calls in a way that meets the needs of the crisis line and encourages callers to seek therapeutic treatment for their problem. The proposed response is based on principles of covert conditioning and Ericksonian suggestions. A script of the response is presented along with a description of the rationale and suggested precautions for use with callers.