Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Woman Says Rape Called Part of Therapy : Courts: Work-related stress claimant testifies that the psychologist in the case assaulted her.

A Palmdale woman testified that a psychologist hired by an insurance company to evaluate her work-related sexual harassment claim raped her in his home as part of a “desensitization” exercise to overcome her fear of men.

The 38-year-old woman, in three days of testimony ending Wednesday, told a Van Nuys Superior Court jury that Dr. Charles A. Catanese used his naked body to pin her to a couch, then raped her in his home on Jan. 2, 1992.

“He’s telling me: ‘It’s OK, it’s desensitization and it’s part of the therapy,’ ” the woman said during court testimony.

Catanese, 42, is charged with rape, sexual battery and attempted oral copulation. He has denied any wrongdoing and disputes that he even saw the woman on the day that she was allegedly attacked.

The woman, an employee of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, was referred to Catanese’s Van Nuys office on Dec. 23, 1991, after filing a stress claim alleging that she was sexually harassed and attacked by co-workers at a juvenile detention facility.

She concluded her testimony Wednesday after defense attorney Russell Iungerich attempted to undermine her story. The defense attorney used transcripts of previous court appearances to point out inconsistencies in her story.

The woman had testified Monday that she was drawn to Catanese because he promised to help her alleviate stress with “unconventional therapy” stressing Scripture readings and homeopathic medicine.

In testimony Tuesday, the woman said Catanese threatened her after the rape as he drove her home from his residence, which is located west of Lancaster.

“He said he could astral-project his body in other places,” and this is how he caught a former fiance cheating on him, the woman said in court Tuesday.

On Wednesday the woman testified, “I didn’t believe he could do this, but I believed I was in the presence of a very strange and frightening man.”

Catanese is free on his own recognizance, but his license to practice was suspended three months ago by an administrative law judge who determined that the woman’s story was credible. A hearing to determine if the suspension will become permanent is scheduled for May 12.