Approaches III: psychological approaches to sexuality

Abstract

Therapists feel on their strongest territory when they consider the psychological aspect of the biopsychosocial approach. Sexuality is, after all, an intensely personal experience. Yet, oddly, few psychological theories have had very much to say about the details of sex. Cognitive therapists and theorists have approached sexuality from the basis of learning theory and a theory of motivation and experience driven by cognitive appraisal. Their approach is mainly practical and is covered in the chapter which deals with sex therapy (Chapter 9). Sexual and marital therapists have also used a range of other theoretical bases for their work and this topic is also covered in Chapter 9.