Human sexuality is a complex and multi-faceted aspect of every person’s life, and includes the overlapping areas of biology, culture, psychology and spirituality. For many people, their sexuality is healthy, natural and well integrated into their lives. For others, some aspect of their sexuality is a source of tension or pain in their life and the lives of their partners. Given that our sexuality is so fundamental and basic to our existence, the impact of a sexual dysfunction, sexual addiction, disturbing sexual urge, fantasy or behavior, gender identity confusion, or relational sexual concern is quite significant on our overall well-being and mental health. This makes the work of therapy and the outcome for clients all the more rewarding.
Some common reasons why people come to sex therapy:
For women:
- Painful sex
- Lack of desire to have sex
- Infertility issues
- Inability to have an orgasm
- Body image concerns
For men:
- Not being able to achieve or sustain an erection
- Having an orgasm before one wishes to
- Excessive pornography use and/or addiction
For both sexes:
- Sexual addiction
- History of sexual abuse
- History of sexual offending
- Feelings of being born into the wrong body
- Attraction to children
For couples:
- Decrease in sexual frequency
- Lack of enjoyment of sex
- Lack of desire to have sex
- Lack of intimacy or emotional closeness
- One partner wanting sex more than another
- Issues with sexual performance in one or both partners
- Inability for one or both partners to achieve an orgasm
- Infertility issues
- Extra-marital affairs