Sexual Diversity

Last week we spent much of the class discussing the LGBTQ community and sex. Some of my biggest take aways from the therapy videos were how the therapist presented sexuality to her client in a way that made the possibility of being heterosexual or homosexual completely possible. You could immediately see the hesitancy in her client's as he described feeling off about his attractions. He was vague so she questioned him saying "so are you saying you're attracted to females or are you saying you're attracted to males." This question not only demonstrated the possibility of being attracted to males but also that it would be okay in the therapist eyes. The therapist also did an amazing job of continually checking in with the client regarding the direction their were heading due to initial hesitancy, which I felt was very appropriate. At first I was concerned she'd push this man towards being attracted to males through her questioning, but by continually checking in with him, she made it much more client directed and sensitive to what he wanted at that current time.

Another take away that I hope we answer in class today is around where a clinician draws the line regarding distress related to ones orientation and distress related to one's potential dysfunction. I can't quite remember if thats exactly what I asked in class last week, but it was something in regards to distress and where clinical judgements comes in to assess that distress in regards to individuals in the LGBTQ community.

Paraphilia!

I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation last week on paraphilia and its associated disorders. It always fascinates me as to what people can be attracted to. For example, on the wiki page the diagram showing different paraphilias and one of them is inflatophilia where the individual loves and is aroused by inflated things such as balloons. The diagram even says the people can get turned on by the thought of people inflating, it's so fascinating! Interestingly, my younger brother had an experience with a person that may have been an inflatophile. He works at party city and was asked to fill balloons for a man who he later found out comes in twice a week to watch someone inflate balloons for him. His coworkers mentioned that the man enjoys it a little too much, needless to say my brother no longer inflates balloons.

Other than that, I thought it was interesting to hear that not all pedophiles are child molesters and not all child molesters are pedophiles. This really stood out to me when the group discussed the concept of the gold star pedophile, who are pedophile's but refrain from engaging in any behavior associated with an attraction to children. I can only imagine the daily struggles individuals like these go through and it's unfortunate, due to society and laws surrounding pedophiles, that these individuals are treated to the same degree child molesters are.

Vaginismus & Sexual pain/Orgasm disorders

I'm still trying to wrap my head around vaginismus and its treatment, and we are about 3 days removed from class. I never realized how serious this condition was! I recall learning about it during undergrad, but at the time maybe I wasn't taking it seriously or it was presented in a way that made it seem a little milder than it is. The Strange Sex video really put things into perspective with a poor woman struggling to consummate her marriage because of vaginismus. It's so hard to imagine an uncontrollable feeling pushing a loved one away as she described it. Obviously I'm not a woman, but the thought still makes me cringe inside, which I feel gives credence to just how serious of a problem this can be. Biopsychosocial factors all play a role, and they also should play a huge role in treatment too, which for the most part seemed to be the case. Dilators addressed physical aspects of the problems while a therapist would aid the client in psychological and social contributors to the problem. On the other hand, the newer treatment we saw in class that used Botox, really concerned me. Chrissy brought up a good point as to whether or not the Botox would affect orgasm, and in my opinion, there have to be side effects. I'd be amazed if the procedure left clients without side effects. And on top of that, inserting a dilator into a clients vagina will still under sounds way too extreme to me.

Aside from the very funny images and memes on the Orgasm disorders page, one of my biggest take aways from the presentation was the effects of SSRI's on orgasm. I wonder how many couples struggling with orgasm are aware of the effects SSRI's have, if they are taking them. Because of the seriousness of other side effects while taking SSRI's I'm sure a decreased likelihood of orgasm is put on the back burner so pharmaceutical companies can cover their backsides. Having a therapist that is aware of these side effects can help educate clients struggling with this problem and help get medication changed through a psychiatrist. Therapists could also help the clients realize its not something wrong with their bodies, which may be reassuring for some.

Dr. Berman video reflection

These thoughts are pretty far removed from when we all watched the Dr. Berman video so bare with me as I try to understand the notes I wrote about a week ago. Before writing this I went back to the Principles and practice book to read over highlights I made in sections regarding assessment. It was amazing to see how what I highlighted aligned pretty closely to most of my notes regarding what was useful in Dr. Berman's assessments. She focused on the chronology of the problem, quality of sex, sexual scripts, trauma, etc. She did it all in my opinion. One thing that I found extremely effective was towards the end of the video, I think. It was in regards to understanding emotions and the underlying processes where one of the female clients mentioned feeling sadness, which Dr. Berman explored a little more revealing that the sadness was actually caused by feelings of longing and vulnerability. If I had typed this out earlier I probably could explain more but I'm hoping everyone else is able to recall what I'm talking about.

It was also enjoyable to watch Dr. Berman's interventions take place, even during the awkward footages of couples doing their intimate things with a cameraman in the room. My favorite aspect of her interventions was with the couple where the husband was wealthy afraid of his wife's vagina due to what he had seen during child birth. Talk about an interesting case to work with. Among dealing with a lot of the man's semi-out there thoughts and feelings, I felt Dr. Berman did a good job at not reacting to a lot of what he was saying. Most of us in class were cracking up at some of his statements, but she was able to remain professional and stay the course, which I imagine being extremely important in sex therapy. Anyways, her approach to desensitize him was really interesting. First having him think about what it looks like, then looking at it for a certain amount of time, eventually building up to performing oral sex. The process seemed so smooth to convince a guy that I honestly thought had no chance of making a change, based off of the initial interview with him.

I also found the separate counseling session to also be effective. It may have been how the show was put together but it seemed as though the separate session came just at the right time allowing both partners to convey things to Dr. Berman that they may have not disclosed to their partners. One part in particular I remember was when the black women disclosed her fantasy of another man, potentially her husband's pseudo-boss, taking her. Those conversations in therapy led to conversations outside of therapy where both partners were curious what the other had said and eventually led to a nice discussion of each others fantasies. It was enjoyable to watch!

Tiefer and the Medicalization of FSD

This one is gonna be brief, but I wish I had read the final part of Tiefer's book before the beginning parts 1-4. Her style of writing and some of the things she was very opinionated about made me start giving what I read little value. I was so turned off by it. My desire to read the final part of her book first comes from watching Orgasm Inc. in class, which presented FSD through a new source that happened to include Tiefer in the film. Without my already influenced frustrations in her writing guiding my thought processes, it was much easier to watch the documentary and understand exactly where she was coming from regarding the medicalization of sex and more specifically FSD. Its funny to think that all of the nights I sat in my apartment reading her book, filled with thoughts of not liking her, culminated in me smiling when they showed her reaction to the FDA not voting for the approval of whatever the name of that testosterone patch was. I was happy for her for the first time since we started reading her book, and even gained some new insight into exactly where she was coming from in the book.

Intro/Bio

Fellow 505ers,

Welcome to my blog! 

I hope you all find the topic of sex and sexuality just as fascinating as I do. I sometimes struggle to find the words that appropriately convey my thoughts about sex so I'm hoping this class helps me grow in that area, especially when working with couples in the future. I turn to humor sometimes to address what may be awkward topics for others and myself, which is not the most appropriate outlet. I used to view sex as simply as what goes on in the bedroom and any issues could generally be fixed by addressing one's technique. Clearly after the first day of class, and through the readings, my view was a little misinformed so I'm excited to learn more. My general interest are in infidelity, the stages of a relationship, and the fluctuations in intimacy and sex during the different stages. 

P.S.
Hope everyone has an enjoyable Valentines day this weekend; if you aren't a fan, have a nice President's Day!