A902 Helping Couples Find Their Sexual Chemistry

Discover how couples can overcome their sexual impasses and enhance their erotic life by understanding and working with their particular styles of sexuality.

CE Credits: 3
Audio Only: MP3 Download: $35
Audio Only: CDs: $45 (+$5 Shipping)
Add 3 CE Credit Hours: $35

Barry McCarthy, Ph.D.

The most common problems facing American couples--of all age groups, straight or gay, married or unmarried--are inhibited sexual desire and discrepancy of sexual desire. Unfortunately, most “remedies,” such as sharing sex fantasies, being verbally explicit during sex, and using porn videos, just make the problem worse, adding embarrassment and hopelessness to an unhappy situation. In this course, we’ll discuss how committed couples can identify the sexual style that works best for them--complementary (roles are equal and flexible), traditional (one person initiates sex, the other intimacy), emotionally expressive (adventurous and erotic), and best friends (focusing on intimacy and spiritual partnership). We’ll then explore in detail how to help couples find sexual strategies that are congruent with their own preferred style, work with the specific vulnerabilities of each style that can subvert sexual desire, and identify different modes of arousal suited to different couples.

Meet the Instructor

Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., is a diplomate in clinical psychology and practices at the Washington Psychological Center. He’s a professor of psychology at American University and author of Men’s Sexual Health and Discovering Your Couple Sexual Style.

Learning Objectives

1. Demonstrate how to help a couple develop sexual-desire strategies that are congruent with their sexual style.
2. List specific vulnerabilities of each couple sexual style that can subvert sexual desire, and describe ways to confront these.
3. Identify for which type of couple partner-interaction arousal, self-entrancement arousal, or role-enactment arousal is most likely to enhance sexual desire.