What is Sex Therapy?

Sex therapy involves simply sitting down and talking about sex with a member of our team who has the skills and experience to work with you through your sexual and intimacy concerns. In sex therapy you get to keep your clothes on and it won't involve any touching during the consultation. Your first consult it is often an opportunity to express the concerns you've had for the first time ever. Many people report this being quite a relief as the therapist is used to talking about things in a matter of fact way and provide a non-judgemental environment.

Once a connection has been established with your specialist you could expect to help provide an overview what's been going on, when it began, how things have changed, how you feel about it, what you want to acheive and other relevant questions the specialist might ask. If you're in a relationship we recommend that your partner attends too so that both perspectives can be offered. After this first appointment the specialist has a better idea of what might be going on and may be able to suggest how many appointments might be required to get you to achieve the changes you want. This can involve homework inbetween consultations, such as book and other resource reading, exercises to try together, and other similar things.

Few of us are ever taught about sex and there is a lot to learn. Not only the 'how to' parts, but all the skills needed to make a sexual relationship enjoyable and lasting. For some this involves addressing destructive sexual behaviours first. To summarise the goals of sex therapy your specialist will help you:

• Identify any problems you're having or areas you may want to improve.
• Recognise what is causing the problems.
• Learn how to make vital changes.

• Difficulties getting or maintaining erection (erectile dysfunction).
• Differing sex drives or lack of sexual desire.
• Sexual "addiction" (compulsivity).
• Difficulties having an orgasm or coming sooner then preferred.
• Sexual problem after prior sexual abuse (ACC work).
• Sexuality concerns.
• Gender concerns.

A common statement made at the end of sex therapy is "I never thought I would say this but I am actually glad we developed this sexual problem. I had no idea our relationship could be this good."