A third of reproductive-aged women have low sexual desire and problems with sexual arousal. One of the most common presenting issues couples come to sex therapy with is mismatched desire, or when one partner wants to have sex more than the other.

A women's sexual desire is strongly influenced by her relationship satisfaction, mood, self-esteem, body image, psychiatric symptoms, and age. 

Is Sexual Desire a Mystery?

In my clinical experience, female sexual desire presents as somewhat of a mystery to women. They either feel they have the desire or don’t. When they don't have it, they don’t know how to get it. 

Research has shown that some women with low sexual desire simply have no distress about it, thus it doesn't meet the criteria for being a clinical problem. However, a significant number of women do experience distress due to low sexual desire and the potential negative impacts on quality of life and relationships. 

These women may first ask a physician for help. Unfortunately, medical interventions that are aimed at increasing physiological sexual response may not pave the way to a solution unless the woman has a medical problem. Sexual desire and subjective sexual arousal — or feeling turned on — are not impacted very much by medications that increase the genital blood flow during sexual arousal. 

Significant research has been done on the impact of mindfulness on women who seek treatment for low sexual desire and arousal problems. 

• Mindfulness can decrease self-criticism and being distracted by your thoughts. 

• Mindfulness can decrease past thoughts and increase being more in the moment. 

• Mindfulness can improve anxiety and depression which are also linked to low sexual desire. 

• Mindfulness can improve self-acceptance which can lead to more body positivity.

• Mindfulness can improve female sexual functioning in a variety of ways, including opening the possibility of noticing sexual prompts more often.

Sex-Positive Group Psychotherapy

Kimberly Keiser & Associates is now offering sex-positive group psychotherapy. This is specifically aimed at teaching women mindfulness practices and sex education to overcome the negative impacts of low sexual desire and improve sexual functioning. 

You may be wondering: what does group therapy for sexual problems look like?

Below is a sample of what our group structure looks like, so you can better understand this unique and empowering opportunity to learn more about your body and improve sexual functioning.

Session 1: Psychoeducation about low sexual desire, plus an introduction to mindfulness that focuses on body awareness. Group participants are guided to notice body sensations and associated thoughts and feelings as they scan each part of the body. 

The interactive discussion is an important part of forming a narrative around subjective experience. This directly translates into being able to communicate about your body in general and develops your ability to communicate about your sexuality and sexual experiences. 

Participants will be given recorded mindfulness practices to complete at home. 

Session 2: Psychoeducation about sexual anatomy, physiology, sexual arousal, and response. This will be a holistic sex education experience in which group participants will be taught in the context of sexual pleasure and other core principles of sexual health. 

Group members will be encouraged to share new information they are learning and how this is different from previous sex education they’ve had. Mindfulness meditation exercises are again provided with an increased focus on awareness of body sensations.   

Participants are given recorded mindfulness practices to complete at home as well as a genital exploration exercise in which participants will explore their own genitals at home with a mirror while utilizing mindfulness breathing and attention. 

These are two sessions out of a 12-week sex-positive group psychotherapy program. Each session will build upon the prior and lend itself towards the development of an increased understanding of sexual arousal and response and how to develop higher levels of sexual functioning. 

The power of the group context is found in the shared narrative that is created, along with seeing yourself in others, feeling hope and that you are not alone, learning about your sexual health, and discovering how to manage any issues you are confronting.

To sign up for or get more information about our 12-week sex-positive group program, get in touch with our Sioux Falls therapy office.