ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the results of a small scale qualitative study of the experience of a group of psycho-sexual therapists working with couples where the woman reported loss of sexual desire. It examines the counter-transference of the psycho-sexual therapists, including their sense of dread, and proposes that reflected emotional problems that remained unaddressed in the partners and between them as a couple. The loss of sexual desire is a frequent symptom presented to psycho-sexual therapists, almost exclusively by women, and one that challenges the therapeutic effectiveness of those they consult. Psychoanalytic thinking about the couple relationship proposes that problems and conflicts between partners in a sexual relationship are inevitable and normal, although they sometimes constitute a sufficient threat to the relationship for partners to want to put them out of mind. Within the countertransference, therapists could re-enact the impenetrable defence that operated between the partners.
