Health Blog

This game may seem drastic or childish. One of my patients, to whom I suggested a variation of it, replied skeptically, “But that’s playing games!” What he meant of course is that it was a kind of manipulation entailing “tit for tat” behavior. It seemed excessive and revengeful to him. “If I have to do [...]

Players: Depressed spouse and nondepressed spouse. Activists: Both. Setting: Home. Aim: To join and mirror the depressed spouse’s defensive posture in order to facilitate him or her in developing more insight. Game Plan: The depressed spouse has been rejecting all sexual overtures for some time. Let us say that in this case the depressed spouse [...]

(If he does not know how beforehand, he can consult a “how-to” book.) When he finishes, he asks, “There, how do you feel now?” “Wonderful.” “What can I do for you now?” “I don’t believe you.” “What don’t you believe?” “Why are you doing this?” “Because I love you. What can I do now?” “I [...]

His wife is clad in something soft and sexy—a silk nightgown or robe, harem pants, gauzy slip. Through this outfit he can see her panties. They could be red panties, because red provokes passion as well as anger—though what’s best Is whatever color the wife knows most turns him on (sometimes white, virginal panties really [...]

If we consider the sexual phobic reaction to be any automatic, disturbed response of the autonomic nervous system to sexual stimuli, and if we use phobic reduction methods regardless of the subjective experience of this disturbed response, we can markedly increase the usefulness of this behavioral approach. However, the question must now be raised as [...]

Therapy Some transvestites live for years before they seek therapy or before an incident with the law requires them to do so. Others undoubtedly never seek therapy. Some associate with other transvestites, sometimes in bars where they congregate, or by joining a society formed for the purpose of sociability and self-help. Transvestism is closely related [...]

Law comprises a set of rules and rules for the use of those rules which, themselves an object of study, allow investigation of the larger sociocultural order. Legal trends appear and shift in concert with other social alterations. There is, however, a tendency for law and judicial decisions to express the specific, concrete concerns and [...]

The ethnographic sex researcher first is faced with the fact that most sexual behavior is conducted in private; observation is difficult, and all one can do is ask about the topic. Reo Fortune is the earliest to comment on this methodological limitation. He was forced to do so after realizing that traders in New Guinea [...]

The sexuality of older people has only recently begun to receive attention. The prevalent view has seemed to be that sex is the prerogative of the young, that older people do not participate in or enjoy sex and if they do, such activity is ridiculous, embarrassing, or downright obscene. In May 1974, however, the SI [...]

Even people who are knowledgeable and worldly about many things may nonetheless continue to be very ignorant of the basic facts of potency. There’s Peter, for example, a 63-year-old, successful businessman with two grown children. He was married for 30 years and enjoyed a good emotional and sexual relationship with his wife before she died [...]