Personal reflection on two books: key insights and experiences

Sexuality Treatment

The author of this response was asked to review two books regarding sexual function, dysfunction and treatment and answer to four specific questions. The first question asks the author to ask what topic surprises the most. The second question asks what question was the easiest to learn about. The third asks what topic made the author uncomfortable and the fourth asked for two specific points of learning that can be used and applied as a counselor by the author of this report.

Questions Answered

The topic that surprised the author the most was the chapter in the Long book that talked about goal setting and treatment planning. The author perhaps thinks that being so clinical and formal about that topic is perhaps being a little too involved and over-thorough because the topic at hand is not all that complicated. People certainly make it complicated but it's not usually that hard to boil things down and put the cards out on the table. To that end, a counselor would be useful but over-complicating the process is probably more trouble than it's worth a lot of the time.

The easiest chapter to go through was the third chapter in the Sexual Dysfunction book, which is in reference to sexual arousal disorders. The chapter is great because it doesn't stay in the terminology ether and uses the terms that are more common in today's society which aids in the feeling that there is not a huge disconnect between the clinicians that treat sexual arousal disorders and the patients. This disconnect perhaps explains a lot of why many people delay or avoid treatment for sexual arousal disorders altogether and this book's third chapter would aid in tamping down some of those concerns, even if the audience of this book would mostly be counselors and people that are in school for the field.

As for what made the author of this report uncomfortable, the author would point to chapter 7 of the Sexual Dysfunctions book, which relates to psychosocial approaches to treatments. The material itself is not the issue but there is a lot of different problems and approaches being thrown at the reader and there is certainly a lot to take in. It perhaps just will take some getting used to and things will ease as the author of this report becomes more involved and accustomed to the commonalities and trends that will avail themselves from patient to patient, but it is a little daunting at the moment.

Lessons Learned

As for what the author of this report learned, there are two major lessons learned (or that are currently being learned) that are particularly illuminating. First, it behooves a counselor that deals with sexual dysfunction and treatments to not be inhibited or shy about discussing these topics. Obviously, these are not thing that would (or usually should) be discussed openly with strangers or even friends on an indiscriminate basis. However, patients must understand that there is no need for concern or shyness as it relates to a counselor that is involved with sexual issues because openness and honesty is a prerequisite for getting complete and effective treatment. This is not to say that the terminology and tactics should be too casual or profane, but there should not be any limitation in what is covered and patients should not be made to feel gun-shy or otherwise inhibited about being honest.

Indeed, the author of this report was very careful to moderate the tone of the topic the author was surprised about because while the topics involved are usually not complicated, feelings like regret, shyness and antipathy can make the process complicated and hard to extricate one's self from. However, it is the role of a good counselor to counteract that and open the lines of communication so as to ascertain what is really going on.

The other major thing learned from this book is that males and females are indeed very different as it relates to treatment options and tactics and it's not just related to physiology and traditional gender roles. That being said, gender identity and physical gender are not the same thing and this is manifested in a litany of ways throughout mainstream society and it's clear that this is also true in the clinical and counseling sphere as well. In short, the author has learned that a template approach, even with men and women in general, is less than wise and each patient needs to be treated on an ad hoc basis rather than the same broad-based approach based on gender, race, etc. Obviously, there will be certain trends and most people will align with those trends, but it should never be assumed to be the case until proven otherwise.