I often get interesting psychological books from publishers. One that I received recently caught my eye and I picked it up. The title?
Erectile Dysfunction: Integrating Couple Therapy, Sex Therapy, and Medical Treatment.
The book is written for sex and couple therapists and physicians, as well as for the person seeking treatment and for his spouse.
The books starts with the staggering facts about erectile dysfunction. The prevalence rate for men who are 40 is 39% and increases to 67% for men who are 70. The authors point out that as baby boomers age, many more men will be affected by this problem. They do discuss medical interventions for erectile dysfunction but I thought they did a good job of focusing on the psychological factors in a chapter entitled, "Assessment of Psychological Risk Factors."
The major risk factors include: vulnerabilities within the individual, factors arising from the family of origin, and relationship issues. The book uses a systemic approach to treating the problem and does not automatically assume it lies only with the man. At one point, the authors suggest to therapists "not to assume that
her [my emphasis] inhibitions, if present, were precipitated by him."
In another chapter on couples' relationship problems, the authors address anger and conflict issues and they make a good point: "The question is not whether anger and conflict occur between partners, but how they manage it when it does occur."
Overall, the book seems to have good information on treating erectile dysfunction and looks from my perspective to be a good resource for therapists, physicians or those who want to understand more about the problem.
Labels: interesting books
