Sex, Mind, and Emotion: Innovation in Psychological Theory and Practice

Recent decades have seen a decline in the emphasis on sexuality in psychoanalytic theory, whilst clinical psychology has become more involved in sexual health issues. Sexuality remains at the core of human experience and where there are psychological and psychotherapeutic treatments, there will be sexual issues to be addressed. Sex, Mind, and Emotion is a collection of predominantly clinical papers, exploring innovative work in the field. The central tenet of the book is that sexual behaviour cannot be divorced from the emotional context in which it occurs or the meaning of that behaviour to the individual and therefore no chapter is about sex without also addressing mind and emotion.

The book uses a fusion of psychoanalytic, systemic and cognitive theories in conjunction with public service practice. It deals with important and relevant topics such as the treatment of sex offenders; the compulsive use of internet pornography; the psychosexual development of adolescents growing up with HIV; the psychodynamics of unsafe sex; refugees and sexuality; services for people with gender dysphoria; psychological treatment for survivors of rape and sexual assault; and loss of sexual interest.