ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews specific obligatory concerns in sex therapy treatment, such as the responsibility of the therapist to understand his or her own ethical vulnerabilities that could obstruct treatment and a safe environment for the therapeutic work involving sexuality. In addition to the countertransference issues, it is essential for the therapist to clearly monitor and delineate the boundaries between the client and the therapist because boundary violations can occur without the therapist's full awareness. The sexual surrogate's focus is commonly in building skills for emotional and sexual intimacy as well as social skills, relaxation and sexual touching. In addition to educational workshops, sex therapists should engage in experiential workshops often, perhaps more often than therapists in general practice, because of the sensitivity of sexual material and the propensity for ethical issues. In clinical practices, many would work daily with issues of sexual compulsivity, infidelity, pessimism over having a healthy sexual life, physical sexual pain and other extremely charged sexual issues.
