Psychosexual Counselling

Treatment of Psychosexual Disorders

June 28, 2016 by Albert

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” the old cliché goes. Medicine continues to find an answer to the many diseases that have hammered the human species through time. Though by no means is it to suggest that discovering remedies to diseases such as malaria is an easy task, sicknesses caused by the external environment do have a certain consistency in symptoms, effects, and treatments. This consistency is not a luxury afforded by psychological disorders, which have a profound effect on the health of an individual. In the case of psychosexual disorders, this is because it is difficult to narrow down the specific cause and effect relationship in psychosexual disorders. And when it is difficult to narrow down the source and impact of these disorders, then it lends itself to mistaken prognostication and a lack of adequate treatment.

The first difficulty in finding adequate treatment of psychosexual disorders in men is that sometimes the field of medicine relies on traditional medication to resolve unconventional and inconsistent psychosexual behavior. Incidences of psychosexual dysfunctions, such as impotence in men or lack of arousal in females, are popularly assigned biological and health reasons in medicine. Therefore, the solution comes in the form of a prescribed pill or recommendation of a change in lifestyle, such as exercise or less stress.

Undoubtedly, there is validity to the medical causes of psychosexual dysfunctions. However, sometimes it is too superficial; sometimes, the problems, insecurities, and anxieties that accompany psychosexual disorders are significantly more deep-rooted. If that is the case, just as prescribing anti-depressants has shown its ill-side effects for sufferers of depression, it does little good to depend purely on medication for treatment of psychosexual disorders. So, what are real and (more…)

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

June 28, 2016 by Albert

Our attempts to conceal our individual sexual inclinations through restraint or denial are ultimately a fruitless enterprise, Sigmund Freud argued. Even a newborn baby oozes with libido. Initially, this libido energy is directionless, requiring a compass to navigate and develop itself. Considering that this libido exists in the newborn suggests that is an essential component in the individual identity. So, how does the libido develop itself?

For Freud, sexuality plays a crucial role in our healthy personality development. During individual stages of psychosexual development, single body parts became particularly sensitive to erotic stimulation. According to Freud’s psychosexual stages, the erogenous zones – the mouth, the anus, and the genital regions – become areas of fixation during individual stages of psychosexual development. If the child expresses and resolves his individual psychosexual stages, then the result is a healthy personality. The risk, however, is that during one of these psychosexual stages, these needs are not met or overindulgence is encouraged. Then, like a drug, it results in a permanent fixation. Freud asserted that this fixation leads to antisocial or personality disorders in the individual’s adult life.

Freud Psychosexual Stages — Freud's Psychosexual Stages

What are the Freud’s psychosexual stages? The oral stage dominates the first two years of a child’s life. The child is dependent on its mother for nurturing, primarily through accepting things through the mouth. Breast feeding and sucking act as the primary form of pleasure in the oral stage. Because the oral stage is defined by the babies dependency, a lack of nursing will create a personality of pessimism and envy. Excess, by contrast, will create a gullible fool for assuming their demands will always be met. Therefore, to complete the oral stage, a natural weaning away from the mother’s breast is ideal.

The second stage of the psychosexual development is the anal stage which brings new meaning to the significance of our daily toilet routine. The anal stage is the stage for the life-long clash between our “Id” – our hedonistic personality that derives pleasure from expulsion of feces – and our “Superego”, which encourages the control our urges and (more…)

Psychosexual Disorders

June 28, 2016 by Albert

Popular imagination paints an abstract picture concerning the sexual appetites of the opposite sex: Whereas men have an insatiable thirst for erotic play, females are supposedly, at the least, better at controlling such urges. While such generalizations are not entirely wrong, it can be argued that what may partially contribute to the perpetuation of such stereotypes is that they have become adopted as a truism. In other words, because we individually see it to be true, it becomes a role we adopt through social conventions. Sometimes though, there are anomalies in the routine. Psychosexual disorders are the result when these conventions are not in sync with the mind of the “actor.” Naturally, it becomes immediate to react negatively towards the sufferers of psychosexual disorders. Yet, psychosexual disorders are quite common and need to be accepted to be more than purely an anomaly, but a common reality.

At the most basic level, psychosexual disorders are disturbances in sexual function due to psychological problems. Anxiety and conflict over sex may be deep-rooted, and these deep-seated anxieties result in natural sexual desires and feelings being unconsciously suppressed and avoided. Sigmund Freud was the first to introduce this term, and he went so far to equate the psychosexual development with the development of our personality through adulthood. According to Freud, depending how well we resolved the sexual tensions that existed in all of our childhood psychosexual stages (he even went so far as to list these stages: oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, and genital stage), that would be determine our mental health as a sexual creature and human being.

Contemporary psychology has taken it a step farther and (more…)

Psychosexual Therapy

June 28, 2016 by Albert

When historians reflect on 2009 and ask what the great trendsetter of the year was, we would be hard pressed to argue against the rise of Twitter – a social networking site that allows one to express their innermost thoughts or most banal activities (unfortunately, the latter is the more popular choice). There are two ways to interpret the fanaticism that has accompanied Twitter: First, it may be a further demonstration of our society’s self-satisfied, self-important, and egotistic pursuit for validation. Or, it may be of profound value to the health of the society as a whole. Journaling has always been encouraged as a means to understand oneself and your individual behavior. Sexual problems in particular can eat away at the soul of the patient, and impact those around him. Though Twitter may not be the ideal avenue for those who suffer from any psychosexual disorder, the therapeutic nature of expressing and analyzing oneself to experts has a proven success record in resolving the deep-rooted conflicts that lie at the heart of psychosexual disorders. A counseling psychologist may have a great role as professional listeners to explore the problems of greater depths, especially when the symptoms are severe. That is why psychosexual therapy continues to thrive.

Psychosexual therapists have generally original training in psychology or medicine, with particular attention to sexual dysfunctions and disorders. Their expertise is kept broad because of the vast number of problems that exist involving psychosexual disorders. All backgrounds, anxieties, problems, and situations are laid bare for the psychosexual therapists to diagnose and, if sought, treat. The origins of psychosexual disorders may possibly be medical, such as lack of sexual desire may be accredited to stress or unhealthy habits. If the case, psychosexual therapists can refer to professionals in the appropriate field. But, frequently, the origins are psychological or emotional – anxieties stemming from unresolved guilt, grief, or insecurities.

The problems that psychosexual therapy deals with include a loss of sexual desire, incapability of achieving erection in males or (more…)