What Is Sex Therapy?
When I tell new acquaintances that I’m a sex therapist, I get a lot of reactions. Eyes widen. And the questions start: “What is your best sex advice?” Sometimes, I’m told information that I really have no business knowing as a new acquaintance, and not as a friend or therapist.
One friend asked me “what’s the difference between sex therapy and sex work?” For starters, and probably the most important difference is that in sex therapy, clothes are always on, and there is never touching.
Suffice to say, people get the wrong idea about sex therapy. They conceptualize it in their head as something salacious. The reality is that I help clients work through sexual problems that are causing distress. This is akin to the way that a therapist helps clients work through other problems that are causing distress in other areas of their life, such as work, their relationships, or conflict in their family. By the way, I also specialize in these areas as well!
Common issues that arise in sex therapy are when one partner wants more sex than the other, which people often refer to as a desire discrepancy, recovering from sexual assault, performance anxiety, low desire, or opening one’s relationship. An area that I particularly find important is working with cancer survivors on their sexuality, given that cancer can have such a big impact on all areas of one’s life.
Another misconception that people have about my work is that I only work with sex therapy clients. This isn’t the case, either. You can think of sex therapy as a speciality, similar to how a doctor might have a specialty. They still had to go through years of broader training before getting into their specialty. In fact, I work with a variety of people and concerns!
Hopefully, at this point you understand more about sex therapy, so that you can make a decision if this is something that you might benefit from. If you still have questions, my blog post on “What’s The Difference Between Sex Therapy and Normal Therapy” might be helpful! In addition, you’re always welcome to contact me to learn more.
