Erectile Dysfunction
PE and the Angry Lover (Premature Ejaculation): Premature ejaculation can cause significant problems in a sexual relationship. Sometimes PE creates conflict and arguments in the relationship. The man often desperately wants to solve the problem, but doesn’t know what to do. And, sometimes his partner feels that the premature ejaculation ruins their sexual encounters and as a result the partner’s sexual n...
Wellness and General Mental Health Concerns
Panic Attacks Philadelphia: Panic attacks can be devastating for the people suffering from them and mystifying for their friends and loved ones. Although they are different for everyone, the experience is often described as a period of intense fear or discomfort that peaks in ten minutes but may last as long as twenty to thirty minutes. Along with many physical symptoms, people in the throes of an atta...
Wellness and General Mental Health Concerns
Panic attack treatment Philly: What is a panic attack? A panic attack is an episode of feeling intense fear. Panic attacks can be triggered by an environmental cue or can happen spontaneously. Physical symptoms that make up a panic attack include chest pain, heart arrhythmia, sweating, difficulty breathing, hyperventilating, shaking, nausea, stomach pain and the tightening of muscles. When experiencing a pa...
Enhancements for Sex
Painful Intercourse: Most women who are sexually active with a partner at some point in their life may experience a sharp pain during intercourse. This sensation, unfortunately is a common experience. Painful intercourse typically occurs for one of several reasons. First, during intercourse, small amounts of air could be getting trapped within the vaginal canal, causing sharp sensations of pain. To minimiz...
Family Planning, Safer Sex & STD's
Question about pain during pregnancy: Can intercourse during pregnancy cause a woman to feel pain? Answer: True Intercourse might cause discomfort or pain for the pregnant woman. For the most part the pregnant woman, who enjoyed sex pre-pregnancy will continue to enjoy it during pregnancy. However, there will be days where she simply is not feeling well (e.g. she is experiencing morning sickness and may ne...
Dating
Overcoming Sexual Pain Support Group: Painful sex can be caused by many different conditions including vulvodynia, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, fibroids, ovarian cysts, and vaginal infections. Meet other women who struggle and cope with Painful Sex: This group will help both single women & women in long term relationships to: Learn how to cope with your medical condition and its effect o...
Body Image Issues
Negative Body Image Treatment (from The Center for Growth in Philadelphia) It is likely that the commentary you received about your body as a child and adolescent impacts the way you currently view your body, possibly creating negative body image. This commentary came from various sources: your parents, siblings, friends, strangers, etc. If you have low self-esteem about your body, or a general lack of...
Orgasm Difficulties
Orgasms and premature labor sex - Question - Can female orgasms cause premature labor? Answer: False. While female orgasms may cause women to experience mild contractions, it will not cause them to go into premature labor. Similarly, breast stimulation, including women who choose to continue to breastfeed throughout pregnancy may experience mild contractions. These contractions are caused by the Oxytoc...
Dating
Oral Facial Herpes: Herpes is a very common and usually mild recurrent skin condition transmitted through skin to skin contact. Approximately 50% - 80% of the adult population in the United States has oral facial herpes (also known as cold sores and fever blisters), with as many as 90% having it by the age of 50. Approximately 25% of the adult population in the United States has genital herpes, with as many...
Open Relationships
Basic Open Relationship Ground Rules: Let say you are in a relationship (whether it be long term or you just met) and maybe due to distance, a recent discovery of sexuality, not being at the point in your relationship that you are ready for a commitment, or just wanting to spice up your relationship, you are thinking about talking about an open relationship. You have done your homework, understand some of...
Open Relationships
Open relationships communication What do you do if you are involved with someone (whether it be long term or you just met) and you want to consider an open relationship? Maybe you are thinking about it because of long distance, a recent discovery of your sexuality, not being ready for a commitment or just wanting to spice up your relationship. Well it’s time to start talking about it with your significan...
Online Therapy / Skyping: Currently, Sex Therapy in Philadelphia is only engaging in phone therapy, but not e-mail / online therapy /skyping. The concept of email / online therapy / skyping and phone therapy is relatively new. As a result there are many unanswered questions: does email / online therapy / skyping or phone therapy work? Is it ethical? Or legal? Currently in Pennsylvania, our mental health co...
Desire Discrepancy
What is a normal amount of sex?I'm in a long-term relationship, how much sex should I be having? For many couples in a long-term relationship, the issue of having sex: finding the time, having enough is a big issue. A common question couples ask a sex therapist is : "How much sex 'should' we be having? What is a normal amount of sex (or average amount of sex) a couple should be having?" To give you a conci...
Erectile Dysfunction
Nicotine and Sex: how cigarettes impact your sexuality. Nicotine influences sexuality in both positive and negative ways. Some studies suggest short term use of nicotine may improve sex drive by increasing the DHEA and dopamine, while decreasing the serotomin. Due to the increase in cortisol and progesterone, nicotine usage diminishes sexual responsiveness. Long term use, due to the hardening of the arter...
Body Image Issues
Negative Body Image: Do you feel uncomfortable with your looks? Are you embarrassed about the way you look naked? These negative feelings could be holding you and your partner from good sex. If this is you, try the following exercise at home... Getting Naked in Front of a Lover Some people find getting naked in front of a lover difficult because they feel self-conscious. It is hard to be comfortable naked...
Relational & Marital Problems
Money Problems and Financial Concerns: Couples often enter into relationships with different financial expectations, desires, goals, habits and ways of communicating. Some people have debt, savings, and commitments to paying for extended family members needs. Marital bliss typically involves developing a shared financial vision about the way money is viewed and used. Developing a shared financial vision...
Dating
Minimizing the risk of herpes transmission: Herpes is most contagious during an outbreak, however it can be spread even when no symptoms are present if the virus is active on the skin, but asymptomatic. This is called asymptomatic shedding. Though asymptomatic shedding occurs only several days each year, it is impossible to know which days it occurs. The surest way to prevent (or diminish) the spread of ...
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, or Questioning or Intersex
I might be bisexual: now what? As long as you can remember, while living in Philadelpia, you have always considered yourself to be straight but has there always been this nagging feeling that you might be missing out on something? Maybe you have had an experience similar to this: you are sitting on your couch in South Philadelphia, PA and there’s a knock at the door. It’s a same sex postal worker. You lo...
Female Sexual Pain
Medical Problems and Sex: Health and sexuality often go hand-and-hand. Sex is a physical activity. Not surprisingly medical problems often have a direct impact on a person’s sex life. Similarly sexual problems can often be an early indication that something is wrong medically. Sex therapy is extremely helpful in a) teaching you how to be the best lover and get the most out of sex. We are trained in how to ...
Body Image Issues
Medical Doctors and Anorexia: Why is seeing a medical doctor so important for clients with the diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa? Seeing a medical doctor is extremely important in the treatment of a person with this disorder because of the serious medical complications associated with anorexia nervosa. Physical effects of the illness include, but are not limited to, the following: Changes in skin and hair;...
