Book Description

The innovative program described in this book revolutionizes the the treatment of sexual dysfunction. During eleven years of daily clinical work, more than five hundred couples have been treated at Masters and Johnson's Reproductive Biology Research Foundation in St. Louis. Here the relationship itself is the patient. The authors stress that there is no uninvolved partner when sex is a problem. Therefore they treat the partners even if only one appears to be sexually dysfunctional. And their therapy techniques have proven successful in 80 percent of all cases treated. The key to this unprecedented record is the role of the dual therapy team. Masters and Johnson have found that it takes both a man and a woman therapist to treat a couple effectively. The dual therapy team acts as a catalyst, encouraging communication between partners when none has existed before. They use psychological and psychological methods of treating impotence, ejaculatory incompetence, premature ejaculation, orgasmic dysfunction in women, vaginismus, and painful intercourse. Basic to all treatment techniques is the premise that attitudes and ignorance rather than any mental or physical illness are responsible for most sexual problems. The two-week rapid therapy program developed by Masters and Johnson includes both counseling and specific instructions for patients to follow in privacy. All results of success or failure reported in Human Sexual Inadequacy Are substantiated by a unique five-year patient follow up program. The concept and format of the therapy program are examined in detail in the first two chapters of the book. Included are discussions of the qualifications for co-therapists and accounts of history-taking techniques and round table talks held by the co-therapists and the couple. A full description follows of the instructions given by the therapists to effect psychosexual reorientation of the marital problems. Analysis of each type of dysfunction, its progression and manifestations, accompanies the important step-by-step explanation of practical treatment methods. Chapters on sexual function and dysfunction of the geriatric population explain how the aging male and female can function sexually even in their eighties if they learn to adjust their sexual activities to the natural changes of aging. Program statistics and a critical review of treatment failures conclude this landmark book. Masters and Johnson estimate that one-half of the marriages in the United States are threatened by sexual dysfunction. The therapy program described in HUMAN SEXUAL INADEQUACY introduces a new era in the effective treatment of these sexual difficulties that prevent the enjoyment of a full sex life and a happy marriage. The exceptionally clear account of their major breakthrough in therapy is a long-needed and invaluable guide to clinical counseling and treatment. In addition, it provides an excellent basis for training programs for professional therapists. HUMAN SEXUAL INADEQUACY is essential reading for all health professionals and introduces a new era in the effective treatment of sexual dysfunction.