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The Treatment of Sexual Dysfunctions - Sex Therapy
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Inhibited Sexual Desire
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Some women and men have no or very little interest in sexual intercourse. Others are interested, but not as often as their partners. Still others experience a sudden or gradual loss of interest. Stating these obvious facts is enough to show that we are not dealing with a simple, clear-cut condition, but rather with a variety of conditions and their meaning to the persons involved. Over the last few years, it has become customary to speak summarily of "inhibited sexual desire", but this may be misleading. In any case, it is useful to keep the following in mind:
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- There are some rare individuals (the so-called asexuals) who, throughout their lives, simply never feel any sexual urges.
- In some women and men, sexual desire is not inhibited, but constitutionally low. Nothing can or should be done about it.
- Some couples are sexually mismatched: One has much greater sexual needs and capacities than the other. Neither of them may have a problem with a different partner.
- The strength or weakness of sexual urges is a matter of interpretation. Some individuals now being offered treatment may, in former times, have bee considered models of "chastity".
- A sudden loss of sexual interest, like any other sudden physical change, may have serious physical causes that need a thorough medical examination and subsequent treatment.
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Causes
As with sexual aversion, the causes of absent or low sexual desire can be many. They range from physical illness, medication and drug use to a great variety of psychological problems.
Treatment
The physical causes of low sexual desire require medical treatment. Psychological causes, depending on the case, may need some simple and short or long, intensive psychotherapy. In the case of mismatched couples, some combination of counseling and behavioral therapy can sometimes effect some workable compromise. In other cases, little can be done by outsiders. In any case, it is not helpful to consider low sexual desire as such to be problematic.
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