Consulting in clinical sexology
Before starting the therapy in itself, the
clinical sexologist will first do an evaluation of the sexual difficulty as it
is experienced by the person or couple who consults. Most often, the evaluation
needs two interviews for a person and four for a couple. The objectives of the
evaluation are mainly :
(1) to identify more precisely what is the nature of the difficulty (how it
presents itself in the life of the person or couple, how it is experienced, its
physiological and/or psychological origins, etc.)
and (2) to be able to offer therapy objectives that will be well adapted to the
problem as well as to the persons who are consulting.
What happens during the therapy interviews
might be slightly different depending upon the approach used by the sexologist.
However, the interviews will be essentially focused on discussions about life
and sexual experiences of the person or the couple, in order to understand the
sexual difficulty and to find a solution to it. Some approaches will center
their interventions on analysis or discussion of personal or conjugal
experiences, in order to facilitate the kind of insights which will produce the
wanted changes. Other approaches will orient more their interventions around
exercises to be done in the home, in order to facilitate new learnings and, thus,
an improvement of the person’s or the couple’s sexual life.