Double Taboos: Sex and Mental Illness-Sex Therapist Addresses Both in New Book

Online, February 1, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Based on available figures, mental disorders affect the sexual relationships of millions of couples. Until now, little has been written to serve those couples and the professionals who offer them care. While not everyone with a mental illness will be able to sustain a long-term, intimate relationship, many do.

In a unique new book entitled Sex, Love, and Mental Illness: A Couple's Guide to Staying Connected, psychologist and sex therapist Dr. Stephanie Buehler provides valuable information for couples in which one or both partners suffers from mental illness-with resulting sexual problems. Sex, Love, and Mental Illness: A Couple's Guide to Staying Connected will help both partners understand the effects of mental illness-and of the medications used to treat it-on sexual desire and performance. It also discusses ways that couples can maintain both physical and emotional intimacy.

The first section of the book centers on common sexual concerns and loving someone with a mental disorder. The second addresses a wide range of mental disorders, their effects on relationships, and ways couples can work together to overcome those effects.

Among the conditions covered are mood disorders, anxiety disorders; chronic pain; eating disorders; post traumatic stress; ADD; Asperger's Syndrome; and severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia. The emphasis throughout is on each partner developing empathy and communication skills to enhance the sexual relationship and preserve a health relationship.

Internationally known sex therapist Dr. Stephanie Buehler reports, "I wrote Sex, Love, and Mental Illness when I needed to find ways to help my own patients who have mood, anxiety, and other disorders have better sexual relationships-and could not find any information within the books on my own shelf. That's when I realized that couples-as well as other professionals-could benefit from a manual that discusses this potentially taboo topic in a natural, doable manner."

Sex, Love, and Mental Illness: A Couple's Guide to Staying Connected is readily available at online bookstores. It is published by Preager / ABC-Clio.