PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY OF SEX
In 1899 Dr. Denslow Lewis read a paper at a meeting of the American Medical Association, entitled “The Gynecologic Consideration of the Sexual Act,” at the invitation of the Program Committee. The Journal of the American Medical Association refused to publish it because of its “sexual content.” Obviously, it was a subject whose time had not yet come. Like Sigmund Freud, Dr. Lewis was criticized for being forthright in his views about sex.
As a result of Freud’s work and later that of Kinsey, the subject of sex gradually came out of the closet and became the subject of both psychological and physiological study. In the mid-1950s Dr. William Masters decided to undertake an extensive study of the physiology of sexual function. He was joined in this work by Mrs. Virginia Johnson. Their monumental research project led to the publication of the book, Human Sexual Response, which still is the basic text of sexual physiology, and to the development of the successful short-term treatment of sexual dysfunction. Their therapeutic program is described in detail in their book, Human Sexual Inadequacy, and the importance of psychological and emotional factors are discussed in their book, The Pleasure Bond. As a result of their work and publications, many sex therapy clinics have been established throughout the country. Some of these clinics are staffed by those who are well trained but unfortunately, many of them are staffed by individuals who have no training at all or very insignificant amounts of training, and these clinics may do harm to their patients.
Sexual dysfunction is much more common than is generally recognized, and Masters suggests that at least fifty percent of marriages have experienced sexual difficulty of some sort. Couples with sexual difficulty are very anxious to have treatment and unfortunately, often go to a cozener clinic from which they receive no benefit or may be made worse. As a result, attempts are being made to develop some kind of control for the establishment of sexual therapy programs.
In 1976 a meeting was held at the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, on the ethics of sexual therapy and research. The success of this meeting led to the development of a congress on ethics which was held in St. Louis in January, 1978. A book incorporating a report of the first meeting has been published by Little, Brown & Co. and the report of the congress will be published later.
Sex therapists should have a basic knowledge of sexual physiology, as well as an awareness of the psychological factors which may be involved. Unless the sex therapist is well trained in these aspects of the problem, it is likely that he or she will do more harm than good.
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