When people ask me what I do for a living, I often tell them that I am a full-time mom and part-time sex therapist. My answer is either a conversation starter or a conversation ender.? If people stick around, I find that they often have ill-conceived notions about what sex therapists actually do.
When I was pregnant with a baby I ultimately lost, I called to speak to my doctor about abdominal pain I was experiencing. She was not available, so I spoke to her colleague who for some reason asked me what I did for a living. When I told him that I was a sex therapist he blurted out, ?well don?t have sex!?
I am not a sexual surrogate. My sessions are clothes on and hands off. I do not have nudity in my office nor do insist that my clients do any exercises they are morally or religiously opposed to doing.
So, what is sex therapy?
Sex therapy works best when addressing medical, psychological, and relationship factors in a multidisciplinary setting, although most sex therapists work in private practice.? Techniques used to initiate, restore, and improve the sexual elements of intimate relationships include: assessing desire, arousal, and orgasmic capacity (sexual response cycle); sexual history taking; sexual and relationship education; and assigning readings and exercises.
What happens during sex therapy?
Sex therapy tends to be goal-oriented and solution-focused. I usually see people an average of six to twelve times.
During the first sessions, clients are asked to read an information sheet and sign a consent form. Clients are invited to share their interpretation of the problem along with what brought them to seek help. In addition to assessing their sexual response cycles and getting a sexual history, people are asked about the families they grew up in, and the messages they got about sex and sexuality. I ask people to challenge some of the myths we learn about sex and provide my clients with psychosexual education. We work together to reach goals they have set and eventually create a maintenance plan so they can continue to meet their goals without continued visits to my office.
Who seeks sex therapy?
Straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals and couples are welcome to work on any sexual and/or relationship concerns.
My interests in sex therapy include but are not limited to: painful intercourse; erectile difficulties; medical diagnoses and effects of surgery on sexuality; effects of aging on sexuality; infertility; difficulty with desire, arousal, and/or orgasm.
Therapist Qualifications
If you are interested in seeing a sex therapist, do your homework. Although there is legislation in the works to create a college of psychotherapists, anyone can currently call themselves a sex therapist or couple?s counselor. Make sure the therapist has a minimum of a master?s degree in a related field and experience with sexual issues.? I would recommend beginning your search with the Board of Examiners in Sex Therapy and Counselling in Ontario?www.bestco.info.
Next time I?ll talk more about how to get the sex life you want?
Source: http://clubmom.ca/introduction-to-sex-therapy/
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