ABSTRACT
This chapter will be looking at the difficulties experienced by people who live in intimate sexual partnerships. The difficulties can be those that arise when one or both parties experience unhappiness about the relationship in general, or about their sexual functioning in particular. Much of the psychological work in the field has historically been with heterosexual couples, and especially marriage; previous texts have therefore referred to marital problems and marital therapy. Nowadays significantly more couples are living together without marrying, including of course same-sex relationships. Many of the difficulties described as well as some of the therapeutic solutions are applicable to more informal relationships, and it is for this reason the term “couple” therapy is used.
