ABSTRACT
Sexuality counselors recognize that people’s concerns about sex involve their present cognitive, physical, moral-ethical, emotional, and social functioning, and that this develops with the individual. Sexuality is not a fixed attribute but changes with the person’s history and age. Therefore counselors must know the particular challenges and stresses of different developmental stages, both the sexual and nonsexual ones, to understand what their clients are experiencing.
No one can counsel a child about upcoming changes at puberty or after a sexual assault, unless they first know a great deal about child development and childhood sexuality.
No one can counsel a teenager about a negative body image or premarital sex, unless they are familiar with many important aspects of adolescence.
No one can counsel a couple at midlife about sexual problems unless they are aware of both the usual stresses of that period, and sensitive to the sexual ones.
A person would not be effective doing sexuality counseling with an elderly person until considerable background about this period of life was attained.
