Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders

This section consists of two subsections. The first focuses on the treatment of sexual dysfunctions such as hypoactive sexual desire, premature ejaculation, male erectile disorder, dyspareunia, and female arousal and orgasmic disorders. The second focuses on the treatment of transvestism, gender identity disorders (Gender Identity Disorder of Adulthood, Females With Gender Identity Disorder, Gender Identity Disorder in Children and Adolescents), and the paraphilias.

The chapters on sexual dysfunction emphasize that sexual function is the end product of complicated, interactive biological and psychological influences. Psychological influences on sexual behavior include the individual life experiences of each partner, the partners' common experience as a couple, and their current interactional pattern. Thus, sexual dysfunction can have its etiology in a myriad of biological and psychological systems. Effective intervention involves an appreciation of the complexity of the influences that establish and maintain sexual symptoms.

The treatment of sexual dysfunction has evolved considerably during the late 1990s as a result of the introduction of effective biological therapies. With an array of biological and psychological therapies for sexual disorders, clinicians have more reason to take a psychobiological approach to sexual problems. Many of the chapters in this section reflect the current biopsychosocial approach to evaluation and treatment.

Sexual Desire Disorders, by Alan Riley and Kathyrn May of the University of Central Lancashire of the United Kingdom, captures the complexity of evaluating and treating sexual desire disorders. This chapter illustrates why hypoactive sexual desire disorders are often refractory to treatment. The authors critically review the evidence for psychological interventions as well as endocrinological approaches to the . A brief section on the concludes the chapter. The section continues with chapters by Richard Balon on the and by Adam Keller Ashton, Carolyn Young, and Joseph LoPiccolo on . The two chapters comprehensively address both psychological and pharmacological approaches to treatment, reflecting the full armamentarium available to the modern clinician. In "" Chapter, Marita McCabe of Deakin University in Australia surveys empirical data concerning the and outlines the components of an integrated treatment approach. Finally, Sandra Risa Leiblum, in , provides an outstanding review of the treatment of and , emphasizing the need to consider both physical and psychological etiologies.