"Sexual Healing" Reflection

SO...random fun fact about the Sexual Healing show: It's from the same creators of Taxi Cab Confessions

Anyway, I had a skewed perception of Dr. Berman due to Tiffani's remark about a RUDE comment made at a conference. I believe it was her sister who said that all women should have C-sections so that they keep their vaginas tight and pretty, but I can't help but wonder if the two sisters share the same ideas. After about ten minutes into the show, I began to respect her more. I think it takes a certain personality type and tone in order to effectively work with couples about their sex life. She stressed the importance of sexual communication and reciprocity, but also managed to keep things light and fun so that the idea of sex didn't seem so scientific.

Dr. Berman was able to gauge how comfortable the couples were in talking about sexual acts, and the likelihood of whether or not they would carry them out in the bedroom. She assigned homework to all couples, but focused on what would best help them due to the various factors that were involved in the problem.  For example, for the couple in which the male wasn't comfortable looking at his wife's genitals, she asked that he look at her as a whole, and then when comfortable he'd make his way down to her genitals.

After reading about the "3 window approach" from our chapter on FOD in our textbooks, I was able to recognize that Dr. Berman used aspects of this approach to ask some of the women about their experiences with orgasm and assess where the source of the problem was coming from. As a refresher, this approach goes something like this:

1. Current situation- relevant factors, expectations of orgasm

2. Vulnerability of the individual- examination of sexual history 

and feelings about body image and genitals

3. Health- mental and physical factors, medication side effects

I could see her assessing the current situation of the couple in which the female had a lack of interest in sex and her husband was willing to do whatever he could do get her interested again. It seemed that there were issues in their communication about sex and she had some control issues that needed to be sorted out. She assessed the vulnerability of the female who had lost a lot of weight, and who revealed that she has had negative sexual experiences that have affected her ideas about sex with her partner. With this knowledge, Dr. Berman was able to predict types of treatment that were most suitable to each couple.

Overall, I think this episode was very informative about sexual counseling. There were many similarities in the way Dr. Berman assessed each couple, however she incorporated unique interventions that resonated with the issues for every situation. I'd definitely be interested in watching more of episodes of this show.