Overview

Sex therapy involves talking with a counselor who is trained to help with sexual problems. This type of therapy may help you approach or respond to sex in new ways. Sex therapy can help address issues with sexual desire, orgasm, or another aspect of your sex life that's causing problems.

Sexual problems can be complex. They may be caused by a variety of physical, mental, and emotional factors. These may include:

• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Stress.
• Relationship problems.
• Injury or trauma.
• Some health conditions.
• Certain medicines.

Sexual problems can also be caused by normal parts of life, such as aging and major life events.

How it's done

A trained counselor will talk with you. Together you'll come up with goals you can work toward in your therapy.

Sex therapy doesn't involve having sex with or in front of your counselor.

When you're working with a sex therapist, they can:

• Help you understand what could be causing problems with your sex life.
• Teach you how to talk openly about your sexual needs.
• Offer tips to improve your sexual experience. Some tips might be to change or increase foreplay, remove distractions, or have sex at a different time of the day.

A sex therapist may use a variety of approaches. They might use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It can help you learn to identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.

Most sex therapy sessions are one-on-one with a counselor. If you have a partner, it can be helpful to include them in your therapy.